Web of deceptions
by Bitchy Princess
Summary: With Jack dead, his cover blown and everyone sent to Brecon Beacons. Alex must survive training, his peers, Scorpia's vengence and his growing feelings for a certain seemlingly innocent girl, with a past darker than his own. Or its death... and worse.
1. The begining

**Hey guys! It's been forever since I wrote. Forgot how much I missed it. But I haven't disappeared though! Been reading all those awesome stories you guys write.**

**The plot for this one just popped into my head. There'll be more action and romance in later chapters. Hope you all enjoy!**

**(23 Jan 2012) A.N. Hello! Thank you for checking the story out(: the first chapter is just an intro to the action to come(: I really hope you enjoy it like some of the readers here have. I would REALLY appreciate reviews. And if you do, please tell me what you like/dislike about the story and what you hope to see. You never know, your idea might get featured(:**

**Enjoy~**

He woke with a start, wrenching his eyelids open, throwing off his covers and jerking into a stiff sitting position.

Just as his alarm went off.

His eyes went wild for a moment, before he got is bearings again. Relaxing his tensed muscles and releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding, he brought up a shivering hand to wipe the sheen of sweat that layered his brow. Slowly, he lowered his hand to his chest, feeling his heart pump as though it were trying to escape from his ribcage. He lifted his palm, and realized his thin shirt was soaked through. Partially because of the summer heat, and mostly because of the nightmare he'd just escaped from.

He threw himself back onto the bed and switched off the alarm simultaneously. With his limbs sprawled across his bed and his head atop a rather lumpy, deflated pillow, he watched his chest rise and fall with each quick, shallow breath he took. He did this with a strange detachment as he tried to remember what his dream was about… He recalled gunshots… moans of pain… blood in the water… drowning… Stop, he told himself, and covered his eyes with his forearm. It was bad enough dreaming about it. Deliberately trying to recall whatever thing that was plaguing his memories was like digging his own grave.

There was school today, he thought with a smile. He managed to drag himself off his bed and into the shower, tossing his clothes on the floor on the way, with the standard reluctance of any teenage boy woken at 6AM in the morning. But Alex Rider wasn't the standard teenage boy. This fact was made obvious as he stood under a jet of steaming hot water working its way into his thick brown mane of hair. The bruises that he had sustained over the period he'd spent during his… absents had faded over time. But the countless grazes, cuts, deep and shallow, scratches etc that were inflicted upon him had left their mark. Leaving scars crisscrossing all over him. The most prominent of them all, the almost-fatal bullet wound that he'd still not fully recovered from. Subconsciously, he stroked his wound, a stark reminder that his seemingly average life was just a weak façade…

It was Friday. The last day of the first week he had back in school since that dreaded call from the "Bank" several weeks ago.

Things in school were going much better than he had expected, his friends, those who had stuck by him anyways, had welcomed him back with open arms. They'd finally stopped asking about his absence and instead and bombarded him with the latest news in school. Also giving him vigorous tuition every night since he got back. So much so that he was able to keep up in class. Sabina had left for some other random country where her father was needed again. But he no longer felt that aching pang in his chest when he thought about her.

Things were looking up, he grinned briefly to himself, at least for now.

"Jack! You up yet?" He called, careful to keep his voice low so she wouldn't wake up if she weren't.

"In here Alex," She answered.

He followed the sound of her voice to the kitchen, and tossed his school bag, loaded with overdue homework, onto the kitchen counter, then took a seat himself.

Fiery red hair, an even more fiery attitude, blue eyes, a quick smile, a quicker temper, slender form, toned arms that were currently holding out a large plate of standard British breakfast for him. Oh yea, Jack, his guardian was a keeper.

He flashed her a large smile and dug into his scrambled eggs.

"Anything special happening today?"

"Not really, why?" He answered.

"Nothing… You just look so," She looked for the right word. "Happy, excited, content, whatever"

He pursed his lips with his fork still in his mouth and shrugged.

"Just hopeful today will be as whatever as the other days this week I guess."

"By whatever you mean good, right?"

"Sure."

She crossed her arms over her well-aged apron and looked Alex over slowly. The bruises on his face since the last mission had almost completely faded off. Though he didn't show it, she knew the other injuries he had were still hurting him. She could hear him hiss with pain while he was in the showers sometimes. And that itself hurt her more than the scrapes did him. His eyes were brighter today, compared to others. Yet, there was that lingering seriousness that she associated with lawyers and soldiers that still hovered within his orbs of brown, turning into a strange combination.

"I'm done," His sudden statement shook her out of her reverie. "I might be back a little later, catch a movie with the guys or something. Ok?"

"Yea, sure. Of course," She smiled inwardly. Quietly glad at how well he was settling back into his normal life.

"Bye Jack," He said, as he leaned over the counter to give her a quick kiss on her cheek, then picked up his bag and strode out the door.

Be safe, have fun, she thought. As she did every time he walked out. Huh, maybe the kid really was getting a break after all…

They both couldn't have been more wrong.

Thanks to his early rise, Alex was one of the first to make it to school. He smoothly glided his bike in the bike shed, hopping off and bending down to lock it. He was quickly growing out of it, due to his sudden growth spurt, already reaching 5'8. He shouldered his bag, and smiled to someone he knew vaguely who just rode in as he walked out.

He smirked and loosened his tie on purpose as he walked through the wide doors of the entrance, as was tradition for anyone who reached Year 8 and above. He pushed his hair back and ran his fingers through it a few times. He'd let it grow out a bit, giving him a sexy, carefree look, and made a beeline for his locker. He got out whatever books he needed and held it in his arms, as his bag was already bursting at the seams.

"Alex!"

He slammed his locker shut with his shoulder and turned, to see his closest friend walking towards him. "What's up Harris," he grinned.

Any conversation between the two boys after that was filled with soccer gossip and technical car terms. Too much for a certain young female writer sitting at her keyboard to type out.

Reaching their homeroom, they broke off their discussion on whether Chelsea or Liverpool would win the finals and would continue exactly where they left off after school with that mysterious and detailed memory boys had when it regarded soccer.

"Ok class, please take your seats," Mr. Bricks said, like he always did as he entered the classroom every morning.

Pupils took their time to do so, and it was a full five minutes before the class settled down.

"Abbey, Stacey."

"Here"

"Adams, Josh"

"Here"

Alex sat back and watched his classmates from his seat right at the back of the class on the right.

Preppy cheerleader… Nerd… Joker… He thought, as his teacher read out their names. Big fat head of a loser who annoys the crap out of me, he though with a smile, as Harris, Tom was read out.

"Owen, Sarah"

"Here."

That name caught his attention and tilted his head slightly to the left and looked at the girl who was sitting diagonally in front of him.

She was a transfer student who'd joined the school just a week before he had returned from his latest… Adventure. He couldn't quite place her stereotype yet; maybe she didn't even have one. She was a pretty thing, but not beautiful. Sleek, straight, long, thick mane of black hair that fell halfway down her back, and just above her eyes as bangs. The style brought out her Asian features, yet there was enough English in her blood to balance it out nicely. Large, dark brown eyes, to match her luscious lips.

She could have fit in nicely with the preppy cheerleaders with no brains, and from what he heard, she did for a while. Even learning a few of their routines, which could have outdone the head. But she had made a fatal mistake of talking to the nerds and loners and Goths in the school too. That had almost killed her chances of being with the 'It" girls. But she had that loud and cheerful demeanor that just drew people in, and that had given her open doors yet again. But she'd insisted on keeping her other friends as well. And that left her… Well, nowhere. Some people said she was the most popular girl in school at the moment, being seen everywhere with practically everyone. But Alex knew better. Socializing everywhere just meant she hadn't found a place where she really fit in. He couldn't quite place her yet. And that made him curious. Which was a bad thing.

"Alex, Alex!"

He was jolted from his thoughts, and found the entire class looking at him looking at her. And yet, she was the only one not turned towards him. "Here" he quickly said, ducking his head, earning laughs from his peers.

"It seems like you've graced us with your mighty presence the whole of this week Mr. Rider, lets keep your mind here as well."

"Yes sir," Rolling his eyes for the sake of the few who were still looking at him. Alex Rider, supposed gangster slash druggie.

"Slate, Henry"

He relaxed again, slouching into his seat. And felt a ball of paper hit the side of his head.

_Sarah Owen huh? WAY out of your league._

He recognized Tom's untidy scrawl and quickly scribbled a reply, throwing it with more force than strictly necessary.

**I wasn't thinking like that you idiot.**

Yea, sure. She's turned everyone who asked her out down though, both guys AND the lesbians.

**Gross. Didn't need to know that. But… just out of curiosity, how many guys?**

_Last count, about twenty?_

**Not bad for a newbie.**

_Yes._

**Sounds a bit sour to me… She turned you down too?**

_Yes. Let us never speak of this again._

He had to laugh at this, but he managed to restrain it to a soft snicker. He crushed the paper and looked up. Into her eyes.

She must have heard him or something. He waited for the flicker of fear or annoyance that leapt into most people's eyes when they met his to appear. Owing to the ridiculous rumors surrounding him. But she simply held his gaze, a slow smile forming on her lips, and in her eyes. Before turning back to the front.

He blinked, twice. Slightly dazed.

He felt another piece of paper hit him.

_Way. Out. Of. Your. League._

And crushed this one too.

The last bell for the day rang, and instantly the screeches of chairs being drags across titled floors could be heard.

"Okay everybody, remember that review on Henry the Third due next Tuesday. No more extensions either. Heaven knows I spoil all of you too much. See you next week." Mr. Baxter tried in vain to catch their attention.

But the class was barely paying their teacher any attention as they scrambled to pack their bags.

"Are you guys listening to me? Oh forget it." He chuckled to himself as he watched his class chatter about anything other than history and literature. Proud. That was what he was. Extremely proud of this class. That he somehow managed to convince to become at least remotely interested in the subject he was in love with. A great feat for particularly rowdy teenagers. He smiled and turned towards the door.

Pride and a smile.

Those were the last things he felt and did before a single bullet from a Browning 9x19mm Hi-Power punched through his heart and out the other side of his body. He fell with the ghost of his smile still on his face.

There was instant pandemonium. Everyone was screaming and yelling like their lives were in danger. Which was quite possible. Somehow, through the mayhem, Alex caught Tom's eye. And a silent message passed between them.

Four armed men stepped through the doorway of the class. It was like they were clones, each had the same body build, heavily muscled and huge. They wore the same amour, carried the same equipment, and wore the same emotionless expression.

A very beautiful, very dangerously armed woman followed them in. She donned a bright red dress, hugging her well-endowed body, with the skirt slit up at the side all the way to her mid thigh. She held an old-fashioned revolver in her hand, and when she walked, a gun holster could be seen through the slit of her dress. She hair was a dark brown, curled to perfection. And her make up was heavy, enhancing her beauty. Her large oval ambers quickly took stock of the situation.

"Shut up." Showing traces of a faint Italian accent. She neither raised her voice nor threatened them. Yet her command, said in such a soft spoken, polite tone cut through the mayhem and silenced each of them.

"Follow my instructions, and I promise all of you that none of you will be hurt."

"How do we know that you're lying?" One of the more arrogant jocks asked, in a tone that challenged hers.

From where he sat, Alex cursed inwardly. Bloody Joel. Didn't she tell you to shut up? He looked at Tom, and as if they shared a telepathic link, he turned to meet his eye. They both nodded.

Apparently, she was thinking the same thing. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?" She smiled at him, sweetly. And then lifted her gun in his direction and fired. The bullet buried itself into his chair a fraction of and inch away from his balls. Trembling from terror, he nodded, mouth agape, unable to form coherent words.

'That was a warning," She smiled again. Batting her eyelashes. "Now, obviously none of you know why I'm here?" She waited a beat, watched them look at each other and shake their heads. "That's alright. Because someone does. Someone that my friends and I here have something against. We're just going to take him and leave, and all of you will be unharmed. Well now, since you know we're here for you, why don't you just come on right up?" She looked at every one in the classroom. Except him. Which told him she knew exactly who he was.

There was a moment of silence. During which an internal battle raged within him. What the hell should he do now?

A brief flicker of impatience crossed her face.

"I am a very busy woman. Come out now or every minute that you don't one person will die. Starting with that one," She pointed right at Stacey, and the dumb blonde had the senselessness to squeal.

"One, two, three, five, ten, thirty, fifty, sixty." She counted, her lips, painted blood red, formed a smirk. "I'm sorry, my math was never that good." She raised her gun again, the barrel pointed directly in between the girl's widened eyes. "Please, please don't. Please." She whimpered over and over. But this seemed to bring joy to the sadistic bitch, who sauntered over and stroked her cheek, smiling when she cowered away. Abruptly, she struck out. And her palm connected with Stacey's cheek. The sharp pain seemed to push her to the brink of her sanity as she started to sob and plead. The woman smiled and pressed the barrel against her forehead. Cocked the gun. Tightened her finger on the trigger…

"Okay! Wait!"

She lowered her gun, and turned towards Alex, who had leapt out of his seat to draw their attention.

"Its me you want, you have me. Lets go."

His classmates all turned towards his. Except Sarah. Again. Most of them wore an expression that was fairly close to hatred, obviously blaming him for this mess. Others wore similar expressions, including faint signs of "We knew it, stupid druggie".

"Hmm, ok. But I'd still like to kill her anyway. She annoys me." The gun was raised again, and Alex had no choice but to throw the exposed blade of his penknife into her arm.

The blade buried itself two inches deep into her arm, puncturing an artery. She let out an unearthly shriek, watching blood squirt out of the slice in her arm. She attempted to rip the blade free, but the flimsy material broke and imbedded itself even more deeply into her arm.

She screeched. Both in pain and anger.

"You think because of that I won't kill her? I'll kill the whole damned class because of your fucking heroics." Her accent became more obvious as her composure slipped. And Alex, after getting past the shock that his throw penknife plan had actually worked, felt a brief moment of panic. There was no way his classmates would be safe now, even if he sacrificed himself.

"Gun all of them down, slowly. I need to feel their terror." She ordered, her voice tight from controlling her obviously flaring temper.

The men raised their rifles, leisurely picking out ones they wanted to end. Alex was near to freaking out. He had to do something. Something… His eyes danced around the class frantically, looking for something that would give him an inspiration that could somehow safe everyone. And his eyes fell on Sarah. She neither whimpered nor begged nor cried. She simply sat in her seat and watched one of the men aim at her.

**NO. Why her.**

Suddenly, the windows that stretched from floor to ceiling on the sides of his classroom shattered. And one by one, the mercenaries went down with a fresh bullet hole in their heads. The woman jerked her head towards the direction of the bullets just as one hit her right in her jugular. Her body was thrown onto the teacher's desk, before sliding down in a fashion not unlike a ragged doll.

Pandemonium returned to the class. People sobbed in their seats from relief, others simply hugged their friends happy to be alive. The more levelheaded ones watched Alex, clearly wondering what the hell was going on. But he didn't pay them any attention.

He walked over to Tom's seat and sat on his table to face him.

"You pressed the button like I told you."

"Yea, I did." With clammy, shaking hands, Tom passed Alex back his watch. A watch that Smithers had custom made for him. Including an alarm button direct to Blunt's office.

"Thank God they came this time huh?"

"Yea… So, I still vote for Liverpool."

Alex smiled tentatively, appreciating his friend's attempt to let him enjoy his last bit of normality before he had to face the shit that came with MI6. So much for the last day of the week being whatever as the rest.

"No way. Chelsea's hot this season. They're dead."

And they continued this. Even while over half a dozen SAS stormed into their classroom along with Tulip Jones and Alan Blunt.

**There you go, first chapter up. I've got the second and third chapter ready, but I'm not sure of your responses so far. So I'm not sure when I'll put the others up. Tell me what you think! And I'll work on it. Review. PLEASE(: hahas. Love you, and thank you for reading all the way to the end. Kisskiss!**


	2. A loss and a find

**Hello! Miss me? Haha. Here's the second chapter up(: hope you enjoy it as much as the first, if you did enjoy the first.**

**Thank you to the wonderful eight reviewers, you completely made my day(: and about the mary sue, she's gonna be appearing more frequently to be honest. and i'm sorry if you don't like her. totally respect that, cuz i get annoyed by some mary sues as well.**

**There'll be a bit of action in the next chapter. Just a brief intro of how things will be in camp. Anyway, enjoy!**

For the first time he could remember, the classroom was absolutely silent. Jones and Blunt had whisked Alex away the moment they'd laid eyes on him. He barely had time to throw him a sympathetic glance before he got engulfed in a sea of the bloody SAS men.

They wore equipment similar to the men who had escorted that sadistic bitch into the school. He would have liked to examine their bodies, but they'd been put in body bags and taken away by some more brainless brawns. Which was what he secretly referred the SAS men to.

It had already been three hours since the whole incident, and there still hadn't been an explanation. Some of the guys had tried passing notes to him, seeing as he was Alex's best friend, asking him what was going on. But one of the SAS men, buff, black, but rather short, had taken the note, crunched it up, threw it into the air and blew a bullet through it. The rest in the class got the message. And no one had any interaction after that.

The senseless jock that'd questioned the bitch just now raised his hand, and Tom watched one of the SAS men walk over to him out of the corner of his eye.

"Can I go to the toilet?"

"No," He replied, looking. He seemed to have a Scottish accent.

Obviously not wanting to question any more authority, he just kept quiet and nodded meekly.

That was the last straw for Tom.

"Hey," He called out, purposely overly casual with his tone. Meaning to insult. From the deepened scowl the black guy wore, he saw it worked.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" He didn't bother calling one of them over, he just asked in general, not acknowledging their authority. He watched the black guy start towards him. But another one stopped him, and walked over in his place.

"Sorry, but not now. We've got to make sure the building is secure."

"Hasn't it been three hours?"

A flash of irritation crossed his features. "We need to be really thorough so you kiddies are safe."

"Ok, then where's Alex?"

"We can't tell you that at the moment."

"He's with Jones and Blunt isn't he. What are they talking about?"

Surprise and curiosity overtook the irritation, "how do you know about Jones and Blunt?"

"I know more about them than you," His reply was confident, even though he wasn't.

"You're like another cub then?"

"Cub… That's the name you guys gave him when he was training with you… Bloody hell. You're K – Unit!" Realization dawned, and with it, an even stronger dislike for the men.

"I guess you're not another cub then. So I don't have to answer your questions. Just sit down, shut up, and stop being so annoying."

Tom watched him walk off, his neck muscles tenser than it had been before. Inwardly, he smiled. Mission accomplished.

One hour passed… The second hour… The third… The fourth… Oh wait, he looked at his watch. It had only been four seconds. He moaned. How the hell did Alex manage to do this type of thing for weeks? If something didn't happen soon, he'd start chewing off his fingers one by one, just for something to do.

He was almost going to, when the door of the classroom swung open. Blunt walked in, followed by Jones… Then Alex. He'd changed into a uniform that looked practically identical to the ones the SAS men where wearing. He had a dark bruise flowering on his cheekbone and was walking with a limp. And he had a gun in hand. He stared at the ground, as if wishing it'd open up and swallow him whole. Sensing Tom's gaze on him, he looked up for a brief moment. And what Tom saw made him feel for his friend. There was darkness in his eyes, which could be described as hopelessness. The spark that he knew so well was gone. His jaw was clenched and though his eyes were dry, Tom could hear his silent tears on the inside. He shook his head, slightly, and looked down again, standing behind Jones and Blunt.

The SAS men stood at attention, their heels coming together, back ramrod straight, chin high, eyes looking forward. Under other circumstances, Tom would have snickered. But not then.

This sucks more than that time I knocked Harry Banes unconscious for taking my Mars Bar and the principal called Ian, Alex though bitterly as he felt his entire class's gaze on him.

"Good afternoon," Mrs. Jones spoke first, "we have done a thorough security sweep of the building and we have deemed it safe. There is no cause for alarm or panic as of now.

"What you under went earlier this afternoon is regrettable, however, it is fortunate that none of you were harmed. I'm sure all of you are looking for an explanation on this matter, and… " She looked to her superior for clearance, and she found it in his cold, lifeless eyes. "I'll leave it to Alex to explain it to you."

From the way his head snapped up, and the faint scowl he wore, Tom was pretty sure he hadn't been told before hand about this.

He took a reluctant step forward, wincing slightly when his injured knee gave way. Looking into the faces of each of his classmates, he found himself at a loss for words. Then he met Sarah's eyes, and remembered his thoughts as she was about to get gunned down. No, why her. Why the heck did he think that anyways? She gave him that slow smile again, and he found the words he needed to say.

"Urm, hi," He flinched at that lame opening, but continued. "I guess you all are wondering what the hell just happened. So here's the thing I guess. Those people were sent by some organization that I pissed off. And they're after my head. So I guess they'll use all of you to get to me. I didn't mean for it to get this way. And I never expected that it'd affect any of you in any way at all. I know this is a really lame excuse for the danger I put you guys in just now, but…" He looked away, outside the long windows, onto the school field, where there were over a dozen parked SUVs and agents waiting for instructions. "There's nothing we can do about it now I guess."

He was about to step back, when a couple of the arrogant jocks raised their hands.

"Yea?"

"So you're saying," Aaron Sanders sneered, "is that all of us are in jeopardy because of a screw up you made?"

"Yea I guess so."

He smirked, and leaned back into his chair, high fiving one of his accomplices, "why should that surprise us?"

Alex looked at him. No one moved. The tension in the room was practically tangible.

When was it going to stop, damn it. He'd given up everything he had in his life. Everything. Including Jack. And he still had to put up with this type of shit. WHY. He was so freaking tired. He'd saved to world, millions of lives. He came back; he acted normal to appease his friends. He lied about everything to everyone all the time. He did his homework, he studied, he kept himself fit, and he had been practically perfect. He'd been everything everyone wanted him to be. He'd done everything everyone had asked him to do. And yet, he still had to put up with this. The taunting. The rumors. The pitying looks. The disapproval. Enough was enough.

He squirmed under his gaze, but was unwilling to back down. "What? Huh Rider? What'd you do? Drugs, gangs? Huh?" He immediately regretted speaking when Alex started walking towards him. His hard, brown eyes never wavered from Aaron's blue. And Aaron seemed unable to look away.

Alex stood right in front of Aaron, from his seat, Aaron saw his fist tighten over the gun. And he swallowed.

"Ms. Jones."

"Yes Alex," Her voice was unsteady, unsure of how he would handle the situation.

"If they go according to the plan, and if they sign the Secret Service Act, can you allow them clearance?"

"Are you sure Alex? I'm not sure how long it will be for…"

"Will they be safe if they don't go according to plan?"

"No, I can't be certain."

"Then do it," all this while his eyes had stayed locked on Aaron's. He saw terror in them. Close to the terror he'd seen when the woman had put the bullet in his chair. He wasn't sure how that had made him feel.

He took a step back, and saw him sigh in relief.

He turned to Mrs. Jones again, "I want to speak to Tom. Outside."

"Of- of course."

It was the first time he'd seen her flustered, and for that, he sent her a small smile. Then he met Blunt's eyes. And he knew that they understood each other. There was nothing Blunt could blackmail him with anymore. Nothing. But he'd still work for them, for the exact same reason. Because he had nothing to lose.

He jerked his head towards the door, and Tom got the signal, followed him out. Tom felt weight of the entire class's eyes on him. But that didn't mean anything. Because the moment he stepped into the hall and saw Alex down on his knees leaning against the wall. He knew the weight he carried was insignificant compared to his friend's burden.

"Alex… What is it?" He was almost afraid to ask.

"Jack's dead" He looked up at Tom, showed him the grief he had been hiding.

Not caring if anyone was looking, Tom sat down beside Alex and engulfed him in a hug. Right now, he couldn't help but think, you're dead inside too.

...~~~...~~~...

"Scorpia." It was made as a statement and a question together.

"Yes," Allan Blunt was wearing his characteristic gray suit, even in the dead of summer. "However, despite the severity of the situation, there is another more pressing matter at hand."

"What could be worse than getting my cover blown in my own life?"

"Alex," Mrs. Jone's voice came out soft, soothing.

"What?" He snapped.

"It's Jack… She's dead."

His eyes went dead. The spark within him igniting his anger died. Everything about him died. The main reason he was working for them, the reason he could come back after weeks of trauma and still be ok, the reason he was able to make it through those nightmares with her hand in his was gone.

"You're lying."

"Alex, please, you need to see sense. Jack is dead. There wasn't anything we could do about it. They went for her before they came here. They murdered the two agents who were watching the house as well. Now, we need to take action against-"

But he cut her off again. "Jack isn't dead."

"She is Alex, please. Listen to me, we can help you –"

"Jack can't be dead."

"Oh for Pete's sake," impatience dripped from his every word as Allan Blunt stepped in front of Alex and showed him a picture. A picture of Jack covered in blood. With shaking hands, he reached out and took it.

They had shot her twice, in the abdominal area. And just left her to die. She was in her bedroom, still in her pajamas. Everything was messy, just like she liked it. He doubted they even gave her a chance to struggle. Just pump her with bullets then leave. Damn it, he thought, why'd you have to lie in everyday? Why couldn't you have gone for a bloody walk or something? At least you'd be safe. At least you'd be alive. He felt searing tears build up in his eyes, and he willed them away. He would take time to grief later. But not now. Damn it. I'm sorry Jack, I'm so sorry.

When he looked up at them, Mrs. Jones took a step back. "Alex…" She couldn't find the right words. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world. And, she reminded herself, he had. Many times before.

He tore up the photo and threw the pieces at their feet. Then took off in the opposite direction at a dead sprint.

"Stop him!"

Two SAS men just happened to be reporting for duty and hear Mrs. Jone's order. They raised their guns and aimed, and she immediately cried "No! Don't shoot him."

Confused, they dropped their guns and the first one ran towards him, intending to slam him to the ground, however, he didn't expect Alex to stop and deliver a powerful round house kick to is larynx, followed by an uppercut punch into his gut. Doubling over, he managed to grab Alex's arms and locked them behind him. His partner attempted to restrain Alex from the front, but Alex used the weight of the men holding him as a support, and jumped up, kicking his partner square in the face, effectively breaking his nose.

Two more SAS men hearing the commotion came out to investigate, and assisted in restraining Alex as well. But he would stop struggling, and he managed to considerable amount of damage to his four captors just be lashing out with his legs and head butting them a couple times, before one finally punched him in his face and forced him to the ground in a standard arm lock, pushing him onto his knees with more force than strictly necessary, spraining his right knee.

He panted as he looked up into Allan Blunt's eyes.

"Let me go."

"No, you will listen to me. Now."

When Alex looked away, insistent on rebelling, Blunt yanked his hair, turning his head toward himself. Shock was evident in Alex's eyes; he had never seen Blunt lose control this way before. Never seen Blunt manhandle anyone.

"I said, listen to me now." Blunt had crouched down to his eye level and was looking straight at him. "There's been a security breech somewhere, I don't know where. But it's there. Scorpia was able to obtain classified information of your whereabouts.

That's how this happened today.

There's nothing we can do about your teacher. And there is nothing you can do about Jack anymore. But what you can do is protect the people inside that classroom. We haven't had much time to plan anything yet. But our safest option right now is to send you to Brecon Beacons, all of you, including your classmates. We will be informing their parents and ensuring each of their safety. Now, whether or not they go, depends on you. Its your decision if you want to disclose your… reasons of absense to them. If you do, they will be sent to Brecon Beacons, and undergo similar training as you did. However, you'll be going through the full course.

You might not want to think about it now, but seeing as you no longer have anything tying you down to your life, we are offering you full agent priveliges if, and only if you will work for us. Doesn't have to be now, but think aboout it."

He stood up and signaled Crawly, whom Alex did not notice was there, over.

"Tell him about the message," Was his last words, before he went over to speak in private with Mrs. Jones.

"Ah, Alex," He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm terribly sorry for your, ah, loss. And I'd just-"

"I'm sorry Mr Crawly," He interrupted as the SAS men let him go and helped him, though grudgingly, to his feet. He winced as he applied preasure to his knee and look at Crawly again. "Can you just cut to the chase."

"Oh, ok. Yes, yes. See, Jack didn't exactly die immediately after she was shot. She managed to form some sort of message to you."

Alex blinked, once. Twice. Thrice.

"Ok, so what is it?"

Without looking at him, Crawly passed him a stack of photos and silently walked away.

This time, he couldn't control his tears. He ignored his sprained muscles protests and sank to his knees. Tears streaming down his face. Jack. Oh God, Jack.

Her strength failing her, she hadn't been able to write anything, so she'd resorted to high lighting words in a book. With her blood. He flipped through the pictures of the pages, and could see where she's started to cough out blood onto the paper, he saw where the paper had been crumpled, crushed in her fist as she fought the agonaising pain.

Blinking away his tears and placing the photos in orders again, he was just barely able to make out the message she had spent her dying breaths on.

_**Alex,**_ he smiled through his pain as he remembered she's bought the book cause the hero's name was Alex, _**I'm probably dead by now if you're reading this. I want you to know I've never regretted a single moment I've spent with you. Despite your annoying self, always being so heroic and saving the day and making everyone happy but me, I've stuck by you cause I wanted to. Not cause I had to. I love you more than the world, Alex. And I'm so glad that I got to meet you. From now on, I won't be there to nag you anymore. But that's ok, cause you'll always make the right decision. Even if it's the wrong decisions, it's right, cause you made it. I know that doesn't make sense. But the bleeding's making my head spin. Don't blame this on yourself Alex, it was the stupid MI6 fault. You'll still blame it on yourself though right, I can kick your sorry butt for it when I meet you again up in Heaven. I'm proud of you. So proud. I'd give you a hug and kiss if I could. I'll be watchng over you Alex. I love you. So very much. Never forget that. And just cause you'll ignore what I said earlier, I'll say it again. Don't blame yourself! God Bless. I love you. Kisses. **_

He couldn't help but laugh at her… Jack-ness. Even as she was dying. She'd even printed a small heart at the end.

He took a few moments to compose himself before standing up again. He nodded in acknowledgment at the SAS men, and muttered a word of apology. Then he crossed the length of the hall, to the three of them who were huddled together.

He expected them to stop talking when he was within hearing distance. But they continued talking. And he realised they no longer found a point in keeping things from him.

"Alex," Mrs. Jones scanned his face, his eyes, and felt a small part of her shrivel up and wilt away as she felt the young man's pain. "We're going to take you down to Royal and General now. We need to brief the sergant that will be in charge of your class during their stay at Brecon Beacons." She paused, he nodded, and she continued. "We're not sure of how secure everything is at the moment, so we'll be giving you a gun."She signalled one of the SAS men over. "I'm sure you know how to use this, do not do so unless absolutely necessay. Is that clear? Good, now. After we get back, I will be adressing your class. And then you can decide the further course of action. But remember Alex, this is their saftey at stake. Do not take this lightly. Ok, men! Move out."

...~~~...~~~...

"So that's what happened huh?"

"Yea, in summary I guess."

They were still on the floor as Tom absorbed all that he had been told.

"That means we're going to that hell on earth?"

"Yea, pretty much."

"At least my parents won't be there."

"Yea, well… We're getting the same sergeant as I did last time. So it won't be a walk in the park. At least you guys can feel better since I'll be getting tougher shit."

"You don't say? I wonder why on earth that could be. Isn't life just unfair" Tom's sarcasm charmed a laugh out of him like always. But it was darker this time. More forced. "You don't have to act happy for me you know," He frowned as he helped his friend to his feet.

Alex smiled grimly at him. "Thanks," putting his gratitude into one word.

"Nah… Just, let's not tell anyone we were mushy just now ok mate? You've got the whole secret agent tough guy act to keep up, and I've got my rugged handsome image to up hold."

"Shut up," but he smiled.

"Wonder what Jones is telling them about you."

"Who cares, but I ain't going in till she's done. You?"

"Same here."

"Lets just sleep for a while then, I'm exhausted."

"I'll look out for scary monsters under your bed,"

"Shut up you twit," but he was already asleep.

Poor idiot, Tom thought. Being a super spy must take a lot out of you.

"Alex!"

He blinked his eyelids open and was instantly awake. Then he remembered the nightmares that were happening, and wished he were asleep again.

"Yea, what's up?"

"Think they're coming out soon."

True enough, he could hear the familiar sound of chairs being pushed back.

"We'd better get up,"

"Yea, help me up will you. My knee's busted."

"Loser," But he hauled his friend up anyways.

The first person to dash out of the classroom was Stacey Abbey.

"Alex!" She all but squealed and threw herself at him. He staggered under her weight and almost fell again. "You saved me, you awesome, brave, handsome spy." She planted a huge wet one on him before he could escape from her. Giggling, she let go of him and kissed him again before he could get his bearings right. "I'll see you in camp, muack! Later!" And skipped off.

He ignored Tom's loud guffaws and moved away from the entrance of the class, hopefully avoiding any other incidents like that. Everyone threw him glances, some apologetic, some awed, mostly suspicious. As if the were still trying to figure out if this was a hoax. People like Aaron avoided his gaze altogether and jus walked off.

"Rider, Harris," Crawly made his way towards them. "You will be picked up at 0700 hours tomorrow morning from you homes. You are expected to bring only necessities. No electronic devices are allowed. Especially hand phones. Tell no one except your parents of you location. Ah, Mr. Rider, you will be escorted to the Royal and General after you have packed your things. We will send larger car incase you wish to keep anything of sentimental value. You will not be able to return to your house after today. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, good… Well then," with that awkward dismissal, we walked off, leaving the two friends to themselves once more.

"Well, this sucks. For you I mean."

"I guess so, but it's not like I want to go back anymore… I'll see you tomorrow, bye."

He didn't give Tom a chance to answer; he was already jogging towards her.

"Hey."

"Hey," She seemed surprised he'd called her. "Urm, can I help you?"

"No, I just… I was wondering. Just now, when that guy pointed the gun at you. You weren't scared. Why?" This was a lie. He had just felt like talking to her and said the first thing that made the most sense that had hoped into his mind. Please, please don't think I'm a moron.

"I don't know either. I'm weird?" She stopped, unsure of what to say. "Are you ok? Alex? You look… off."

"Yea, I lost something."

"I get it."

"You do?"

"Yea, I was pretty close to Mr. Baxter. He's a family friend. Like a brother to me," She looked down as she said this, her hair somehow shielding her face. He noticed a tear on the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"Yea, me too."

She looked up now, looked into his eyes.

"Its not going to be fun, is it."

"Is what?"

"The training camp thing. Like the lady said it was where the SAS men trained. And some of the guys got so psyched about it. And I was like, are you kidding me? Look at those guys, do they look like their lives are full of fun to you?" She smiled at this, a quick one, that reminded him a lot like how Jack used to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"You couldn't have been more right."

"Yes, well… I guess I'll see you around Alex." She was already walking off.

"Bye," He called out, still unable to unravel her mysteries.

She turned around and smiled and him again, wide and brief before turning back, her hair swinging as she walked. She took small, leisurely steps. Which could become wide and fast, confident when she needed to be. Like that time she got pissed at Brad Walker for insulting one of her nerd friends. She had all but screamed the cafeteria down, and then sauntered out with a glare over her shoulder. He didn't have the privilege of watching her work her verbal magic, but he did catch a glimpse of her strutting out of the cafeteria as he went in from soccer practice.

It was going to be interesting spending a couple of weeks in close proximity with her. Maybe it would even take his mind off Jack.

"Mr. Rider, the car is waiting for you."

He turned to face one of the emotionless men that he assumed did paper work for MI6 on a daily basis.

"Coming." He tuned to look one last time at his classroom, which he would probably not see ever again, then turned to leave with Mr. Personality, forcing himself not to look back.


	3. Leading up to

**Hello, hello once again! Nothing much to say here to be honest(: I'm pretty sure about the rest of the plotline, but not sure when I can update and stuff. I'm really bad at finishing my stories. So i can't guarantee anything. I was considering sharing this story with someone. Actually, not sharing, more of like, a co writer incase I'm really not able to update on time, or whatever. But it's still too early to say anything really!**

**Anyways, school's gonna start soon and I'm completely freaking out. So much drama is gonna come my way; politics, friends, power, blablabla. It's like a mini office war zone :D**

**But until then, enjoy!**

**A.N (20 Jan 2012) Hey guys(: thanks so, so much for informing me of the no women in SAS rule(: I'll state that rule in later chapters, and I've made adjustments in the plot line to stick to that policy as well(: but then again, this is sorta fiction, so bear with the little nuances from reality here and there okay(: much appreciated. Really greatful to all of you reading this. REVIEWERS. You. Make. My. Day^^)**

"Alex, hurry up. You're gonna be late!" Jack voice traveled out of the kitchen into his room.

"Five more minutes," He replied, he voice muffled as he buried his head deeper under his sheets…

"I don't wanna do my homework, it's useless," A boy of eleven whined, taking opportunity of the fact that his uncle wasn't in to bully is guardian.

"You're saying that just cause you wanna play that stupid Hello thingy." She said, arms akimbo, glaring at him.

"Yes, and its Halo, not hello. Please, please Jack. Just for an hour. Please." His widened his eyes, and gave him his best innocent puppy eyes.

She felt her resolve shift under her feet. "Fifteen minutes."

"Forty five."

"Half an hour."

"Score!" His yell of triumph reminded her of the reason she had confronted him for. How the hell he managed to side track her like that, every single time, she would never know…

"Happy birthday Alex," His uncle grinned at him, making use of the special occasion to allow a smile wider than accustomed.

Alex walked unsteadily down the front steps of him porch, unable to see due to the blindfold Jack had put on him earlier. He uncle stepped behind him and untied it.

"Oh, man. That's freaking awesome!" He couldn't contain his glee as he spotted his brand new bike.

"It was custom made just for you," a sense of pride filled Ian, as he explained the features to his only nephew. "That's how you change gears…"

He ignored the bike, and threw his arms around his uncle. "Thanks for being here, and thanks for the present," He mumbled, a tad bit embarrassed, unused to showing pubic displays of affection.

Ian ruffled his hair, and sent him another rare smile. "Lets go test it out, I bet I can still beat you on mine."

"Nuh-uh, you're going down old man," The officially twelve-year-old Alex teased, sticking out his tongue.

Jack stood in the doorway, and watched uncle and nephew ride off, tossing friendly insults at one another. Men, she thought, smiling. And retreated back into the house…

He felt all sorts of random memories flooding through him, as he walked through his house one last time. His eyes scanned the living room, trying to remember every single detail, trying to remember all the times he'd spent here. Without thinking, his legs carried him into the kitchen, and he half expected Jack to be there, pan on the stove, cooking one of the deep fry things that took less time to cook than to eat. He ran his hand over the part of the counter where she usually sat, reading one of her thousands of romance novels. He opened the fridge, and took out one of the "Emergency Chocolate" bars, as she liked to call it. Then put it back again.

He left the kitchen, and walked up the stairs, taking the extra effort to look at the small paintings that she'd bought to decorate the house with. Why hadn't he ever told her how much he appreciated that she bothered to do that? He trailed his hand up the banister, and remembered that one time where he'd sat at the top and slid down, almost giving her a heart attack. He couldn't help but smile to himself, as he pictured her with her mouth agape, so afraid that he'd injure himself.

Alex walked into his room first; most of the things he needed and packed were already in the car waiting for him downstairs. He sat down on the bed, and lay down, for the last time. He thought. He flipped over and hugged his pillow. He reached out for his alarm clock. Something so insignificant, but everything made a difference. He put it back, and got up, went out.

He went to Jack's room next. He'd rarely gone in from the moment he reached puberty, claiming that her "girly-ness" would rub of him. But he went in now, regretting every moment he'd missed with her. He saw the large blood stain on the floor and felt sick to his stomach. Trying in vain to ignore it, and went over to her desk. Even though she hadn't been studying for years now, her table was still as clustered. He walked over to her wardrobe and flung open the doors. He remembered the times she's called him in, begging for opinions on an outfit she was wearing on a date, or if she looked fat in her new clothes. Smiling, he breathed in, and tried to memorize her scent as well. He was about to walk out, when something on the table caught his eye. Digging though her junk, he found a bracelet that he had given her a few years back. He'd saved and scrimped for weeks and the joy on her face when she saw it was worth it. He laughed as he remembered the temporary horror that replaced her joy when she asked him if he'd stolen it. He scrutinized its intricate detail, and considered leaving it there. But he was feeling greedy at the moment, and slipped it gently in his jeans pocket.

Descending the steps, he headed straight for the door. But he stopped short, just beside a hanging framed picture. It was one of the three of them. Ian was on one of his rare days off, and had agreed to bring him to some carnival in the park. He was clutching a huge teddy bear, almost as large as himself. A prize that Ian had won for him at, haha, the shooting booth. Jack was clutching a stick of cotton candy practically the size of her head; all three of them were beaming at the camera. He had forgotten about this picture, somehow. He took it down from the nail it hung on, and slipped out the photo. Folding it in half, he placed it in his other pocket, and walked out the door house. House, no longer home, without the spark that Jack had brought to it. He turned back, and cast one last nostalgic glance, and closed the door.

He eyes flew open as the bus jerked over another bump in the road. Almost chewing his tongue off to contain a moan, he rubbed his hands over his face, trying to force some life into himself.

They'd been on the road for over five hours now. And he hadn't gotten any sleep at all during the night. After he had packed his things and sent them to the Royal and General, he was immediately flown to Welsh with all his necessities. Or what had been deemed necessities by them unfeeling sergeant who had met him at the airport and insisted on approving of his luggage. Whatever he hadn't approved of… Alex preferred not to think about it.

At least he still had the bracelet and picture he took. They hadn't given him time to change before he was sent for a briefing, and he was still in his school uniform from the day before. He had been sent to an area near to the training grounds to be briefed by the sergeant and a few others, who, he believed, to be his future instructors, on what he would be learning and experiencing.

They'd seen him in his London schoolboy attire, and, as he had expected, taken an instant dislike to him.

"You won't be pampered as much like last time. You think it was hell before, I'm going to make you wish you were in the real one instead of here." The sergeant made sure to say, as he was walking out. It was nice to know some people never changed.

And they loaded him with extensive files on the subjects the other SAS men were already familiar with. "You are expected to memorize these by latest nest week. You will be tested and if not up to expectations, I'll make you wish you'd plucked out and stuck your eye balls to these notes. Understood?" A severe looking woman with hair cut shorter than his threatened him.

Alex had already tried to read at least a couple of them, but the roads were too bumpy and made his head swim when he tried to focus on the words that seemed to be printed at negative font size, add that to the incessant _noise _and he had himself one hell of a headache.

The rest of his classmates seemed to be having the time of their lives, singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall, along with other ridiculous songs he never got the point of. Tom had joined them, without complaining at all, much to his surprise, after Alex had told him to find someone to else to entertain him due to his extensive amount of homework. The bloody cheerleaders were chatting away in the annoyingly high-pitched voices they had all honed to be of the same pitch. Some of the soccer guys were tossing a ball around and it had hit his head several number of times already. He was sorely tempted to get up and toss the blasted thing out the window.

He was seated right in front, not wanting the much coveted back seats, even though it had practically been reserved for him. He didn't want his agent status providing him with any more privileges than necessary. The sooner they all got over the whole Alex is a super spy thing the better.

Sighing, he balanced a fraction of the tall files on his lap, and tried to absorb the information once again. But a particularly nasty speed bump had the files thrown in the air. He managed to catch most of them, and winced as he expected the rest to land on the floor, strewing papers everywhere.

But Tom had somehow managed to leap forward and catch the rest, placing it on the empty floor beside his seat.

"Thanks man," He mumbled, getting fed up with himself and his surroundings. His scowl deepening.

"Your welcome, but the last time I checked I was definitely a girl." Her voice came as a surprise, and a relieve from the high frequency squealing constantly being emitted from the back of the bus.

"Oh its you," He looked up and smiled, his scowl more faint. He attempted to shift some of the papers and books off the seat beside him, but he gave up. She laughed, quick and loud, and sat on the seat opposite the aisle from him.

"What's all this for?"

"Homework," He replied grimly, answering her question and leaving her sympathetic for him.

"Not even there yet and you're already suffering huh?"

"Its awesome to be me."

She laughed again. "What's it like there?"

"Like hell, but freezing."

"I can tell already," She smiled, and rubbed her arms for friction. Alex noticed the goose bumps along her arm and took off his school blazer, and passed it to her.

"Thanks," She smiled, and put it on, grateful. "I was smart enough to leave everything in the bags."

"And I was too lazy to pack, so I wore it instead of folding it."

She laughed again, an easy laugh. He thought, but not really genuine.

"Why aren't you with Barbie and company?"

"There's was too much estrogen, my head was feeling light and dizzy."

"Aren't you like them?" He wondered, out loud.

She stared at him. "Do I look like it?"

"Yes," He answered, truthful. But it came out sounding like a question.

Another quick laugh. "At least you're honest."

He looked out the window, and recognized the scenery. "We're reaching soon. You might want to spend your last few moments on the bus sleeping. It'll be your last peaceful one for quite a while."

"Peaceful?" She glanced towards the back of the bus; to the people she'd just left, who were still as rowdy… or worse. "I doubt so." But she closed her eyes anyway.

"This is ridiculous," It must have been the seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty sixth time Tom had said it already. And for a good reason.

The bus driver had apparently had enough of their antics to last a lifetime. He had brought the bus to a screeching halt, and all but shot them as he ordered the whole lot of teenagers off his bus, brandishing his gun like a sword. He'd even fired a warning shot onto the ground after he got fed up of them taking their time to unload the luggage.

"Now what do we do?" One of the girls in his class whined. Everybody looked at him out of the corner of their eye. He was Alex Rider, super spy. He would save the day.

Be he surprised everyone, including Tom, when he simply dumped his stack of files on the forest ground, and sat down beside it, trying to focus again. Following his lead, everyone else sat down as well. Clearly hoping that help would arrive soon, and rather disgruntled that their brilliant time on the bus had been cut short…

"Alex."

Alex looked up from what he assumed to be an instruction manual on how to create a tourniquet, even accompanied by several gory pictures by the side. "Yes?" Aaron had stood up from where he was and walked over to him, with his two sidekicks Joel and Dash flanking him.

"Shouldn't you be doing something," He still avoided eye contact with Alex, obviously sour over their little showdown in class.

"Like?" Alex turned away in case his face betrayed the amusement he felt. He had lost count of the number of times Aaron had tried to make his life miserable. And look how the tables were turned now, Sanders, look at it now. He knew it was shallow, and immature, and completely unprofessional. But he enjoyed it.

"Like getting us out of this damn place," His voice rose a little, then he remembered who he was talking to. "Please." He added, grudgingly.

Alex allowed himself a brief smirk, before turning back. "I'll see what I can do."

He stood up, his joints stiff from sitting so long. "Touch my books and you all are dead," He paused, to ascertain his message sink in, then walked away.

He walked to the edge of the clearing they were in and took stock of the situation. Just from one glance, he was able to tell who was going to die horrible miserable deaths in the camp, and who would be able to scrape through it, barely alive. Stacey Abbey's entire clique would suffer. Not only would they die. But their cold, lifeless bodies would be used as a stage for the sergeant to tap dance on when he was in a foul mood. Aaron's group would probably survive, if their fantastically large egos didn't get in the way. As for the others… Time would tell. He wondered which group Sarah fell under.

Looking up, he realized they were losing daylight, fast. He looked into the dense forests that surrounded them. They were safe for now, but once the sun set… He had to talk to them, give them some sort of instruction. Sighing, he frowned. He hated this part.

"Hey, yo! Listen up!" As if a switch was thrown, everyone became silent, looking to him. He winced internally, secretly slightly nervous about the excess attention. "Ok, I'm going to check things out for a while. All of you stay here; try not to wonder off cause we still don't know what's in those woods. There's still about over an hour before sunset, I should be back by then. In the mean time, just in case, all of you pool you food and water sources together and ration it. We're not sure how long we'll be here. Also, if you have torches or matches, keep them close."

He turned on his heels and disappeared into the thick greenery, grateful for the curtain between him and them. The barks of the trees were covered in moss, and the ground was soft and muddy. However, he managed to keep his balance and not fall the entire time. Expect once, and he'd caught himself on a branch, gouging his palms, but remained mostly unhurt.

He wondered why the bus driver was so insubordinate as to not follow orders. He had a few suspicions on the reasons for his actions. He just needed some proof. His sharp eyes slowly scanned the area… There! Something reflected the rays of the setting sun into his eyes.

Bingo. He found his proof.

A quarter of an hour later, he somehow miraculously found his way back to the clearing, based purely on his sense of direction.

"Alex!" Tom spotted him first, and walked over, hugged him hard. "Glad you made it man." He grinned, unwilling to say straight out he'd been worried.

"Yea, well. Give it a couple of hours, help should come."

"How do you know?"

He thought of the seventeen cameras he had rendered completely useless, scattering their wires all over the forest floor. "I'm pretty certain," He shrugged. Then winced as he felt a gash on his shoulder pull open with the movement.

"You hurt?"

"Just scratches," long, deep, pain in the ass scratches, he thought. Even with his experience in the assault course, he hadn't been able to totally avoid the thorns that covered every tree he'd had to climb up. They seemed intent on attaching themselves to him. Deep into his flesh, that is. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Useless fights over the rations. Stupid Stacey Abbey kept insisting we left a super large portion of the Mars Bars for you. Totally worships you now, that one." He shook his head, recalling the numerous times she'd called his friend a useless gangster in the past. He pointed over his shoulder, and Alex looked in that direction. True enough, she seemed to be staring at him.

"Well, that's unnerving… You go on with the rest, I still need to study."

Pity swam in his friend's eyes, but he hid it well, knowing sympathy wasn't what his friend needed. "Good luck with that you nerd, I'll be over there, chatting up Madam Celine McCann," He winked at Alex, before walking off, blonde target in sight.

Alex chuckled, and sat down on the muddy, fungus covered floor again, straining his eyes trying to complete his readings in the dim light of the setting sun.

Help came in all sorts of ways. Some times, people offered a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, support to carry your burdens with you.

In this case, help came in the form of two jeeps, filled with men from two units, two large lorries, and a nondescript car that almost ran over Alex as he slept on his pillow of notes.

Somewhere within the vehicles, switches were flicked, and suddenly the entire clearing was flooded with light, waking up the teens that had found slumber on the cold, wet ground.

"GET UP. ALL OF YOU." The sergeant's voice cut through the peace of the night, and brought each of them to attention. "FALL IN YOU WORTHLESS MIDGETS, AND DON'T BLOODY MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF. GIRLS IN THE FIRST LORRY AND BOYS IN THE SECOND. IF YOU'RE NOT IN THERE AND LOADED WITH YOUR BELONGINGS BY THE TIME I SAY GO, YOU'RE RUNNING BEHIND US. AM. I. CLEAR?"

There was a chorus of quiet "yes sir"s, which didn't do anything to appease him. He longed with all his being to dress each of them down there and then. But it wasn't safe so deep in the jungle at night. So he controlled himself. Imagining those useless pieces of crap running the assault course continuously helped him cool down considerably.

Through all the mayhem, and the scrambling to do as they were told, Alex found the sergeant's eyes through the crowd. He knew from the look in his superior's eyes. Alex knew. For the damage that he'd done to their equipment and pride, he would be joining Stacey Abbey's lifeless body under the sergeant's tap dancing feet.


	4. Wonderful

**Hi, hi, hi! This is just a really short little chapter as a preview to what's coming! There's some stuff that's a little graphic in the next chapter, but no excess lemon I promise.**

**And to imagineaworld, thanks so,so,so much for that piece of information. I really didn't know, pretty guilty of not doing enough research. But nope, I'm not American, I live in the tropics! Or close enough to the equator anyways**

**I'm sorry if you don't like this chapter, it seems a bit weird to me. But I've re written it like six times and still weird. Suggestions please! Thanks(:**

~*~*~

They stood in a straight line, holding the hands behind their backs, facing the sergeant. Not unlike, Alex couldn't help but think, in an execution style.

Not only was he going to get hell here, he grimaced, but from every single one of his instructors as well. There was no way he was going to finish his assignments now. And half of his papers and books had flown out of the truck thanks to all the potholes in the ground.

It was almost two AM by Alex's estimation; he wondered vaguely how they were going to wake up in time for the training, which would commence in less than five hours.

"So," The word was dripped with distain as the sergeant addressed them. "So you think just because we saved you kids from the jungle, we're going to be civilized to you? Think again you midgets.

"My orders are to make sure you get proper training to survive what ever shit that's going to come your way in the future. I don't know why those orders were given since your lives aren't even worth that much anyway." He, if it was even possible, deepened his frown. He walked to the end of the line, and slowly walked down, looking down into each other their eyes from his towering height.

"If you have the impression that this is going to be some adventure camp," He jerked his head down face to face with one of Abbey's friends, and had the pleasure of seeing her wince with fear. "You are badly mistaken."

He continued down the line. "If you become tired, if you become cold, if you get home sick, if you don't want to continue, if you have a problem with your commanding officers, if you aren't welcomed," He paused, as he pierced Alex with his gaze, then moved on. "If you are bullied, if you are physically unable to meet the demands of the training…"

He finished the line, and went back to his original position in front of them. " WELL THAT'S TOO BAD."

Almost the entire lot of them jumped. His voice had been menacing and cruel while he was speaking. The sudden increase in volume came as a shock to most.

"You will listen to everything we tell you, you will do everything we say, you will not complain, you will not go against orders. Here, you worship us. I don't care who you are, because here you are no one. Normally the soldiers are given codenames. But seeing as all of you are anything but, you will be given group and serial numbers. Except for those two, who've already survived this place once." He jerked his head in the general area where Alex was standing, but was unclear about it.

_Wait, two?_ Alex wondered if he was referring to Tom, due to him being in on everything.

"You will be put in groups of four, depending on your physical state, along with other factors. One unit will be responsible for the whole lot of you at certain times, and certain training areas." He had sounded the siren for them to fall in, and Units he had called for had woken up, got dressed and fallen in within three minutes flat. His pride and joy, he thought. He considered having his men stand at attention, but that would be degrading them in front of the midgets.

Instead, he chose to point out each group, much to their hidden delight, as he called out their units. "D-Unit, T-Unit, B-Unit, R-Unit, L-Unit, G-Unit, N-Unit and V-Unit. The two of you will be working with the K-Unit, since one of you is already so familiar with them." Alex couldn't be sure, but he could almost swear he saw the sergeant smirk, an evil gleam in his eye clearly visible.

"The boys will be sleeping in that cabin," he pointed to a hut furthest from the mess hall. "And the girls in that one," it was slightly closer than the boys. "It takes about ten minutes to walk down to area where you are to fall in every morning at 6.45 AM sharp, five if you jog. Don't be late, or you'll be spending lots of quality time with me." He smiled, flashing his teeth in a way similar to a snarl.

"You will be given three sets of uniforms, which you will be completely responsible for. You get to keep your belongings, but only after we scan them, which could possibly take about a week." His smile became wider. "Alright, fall out. And I want to see you all bright and early here so we can start your training and placements on time. If you run, "He looked at his wrist watch, "you might even get at least four hours of sleep!"

He heard their muted groans, and barely stopped himself from laughing. "Ok, get back to your cabins, expect for the both of you." He didn't explain why he wanted to talk to them. He was the sergeant. He never had to explain anything.

The sergeant turned around to talk to one of the soldiers who had claimed his attention, and Tom walked over to Alex.

"What did he mean survived this place before? I've never even been here!"

"Beats me," He shrugged, and stifled a yawn.

The soldier saluted him, and walked off. His shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh, he turned around to address Cub and Fawn, instead, he saw another one of those useless schoolboys.

"What are you doing here," He barked, "Don't understand instructions do you? Get to your cabin and stay there until we summon you."

Tom met Alex's eye, apparently confused, and turned to follow his classmates.

"Sorry Sir, then who did you mean by 'the two of you'?"

"That one obviously," He clenched his teeth, a muscle leaping in his jaw, and called her over. "What the hell are you waiting for Fawn? I said I wanted to talk to you two didn't I? Got a problem with my orders?"

"No Sir," A voice answered coolly.

_Not possible_, Alex thought.

And found his suspicions confirmed as Sarah pushed her self into a standing position from the lamp she had been leaning against. Her face was shadowed, as she walked over, in a manner similar to a saunter.


	5. Past

**Hi! Missed me? Lol. Firstly, I'm sorry about the Alex height thing, must've slipped my mind. And secondly, the name Fawn will be explained later. Lastly, thanks so much you awesome reviewers! LOVE to all of you. Anyways, enjoy!**

**Oh, BTW, I really have nothing against cheerleaders and semi bimbos. Since, I admit, I'm kinda one myself. It's the whiny-self-centered-only-I-matter type that piss me off.**

There was only a thin slice of moon, and it's faint light allowed the stars so often out shined by its stark white light to sparkle against the velvet night sky.

Sarah leaned against the railing of her balcony, and watched the waves crash against the cliffs below her. At least the target they had been assigned to had a more than decent home. But despite the stellar accommodations, she couldn't wait for her mother to finish this mission and for them to return to their quiet villa as they did after every mission.

She also gagged every time she caught her mother and the mark sharing those sick glances, and she could swear they'd played footsie during dinner at least once. She understood it was necessary to uphold the facade. But if they both kept this up, she might have to stick her fork in her eye the next time she caught them doing… things.

Why the hell did the stupid man have to deal with bloody warfare artilleries anyway? People just couldn't be happy with killing people they knew, they just had to help other people kill people they didn't know too. Didn't they.

And she was getting increasingly annoyed with Mr. "I'm-A-Rich-Man-Cause-I-Help-People-Kill-Other-People"'s son, Nate. Eyeballing her all the time. Just because her mom was acting as an I-Can-Help-You-With-_Anything_ secretary, didn't mean she'd have to as well.

She sighed, and stepped back to slide the glass doors of the balcony into place. Leaning her forehead against the cool glass, she breathed in deeply through her nose, calming herself.

Just a few more weeks, she told herself, and it'll be all over.

As she was about to climb into bed, she froze, a knot forming in her stomach. A sick sense of dread and an ominous feeling crept into her chest, forming a thin sheen of sweat over her creased brow. Something was going to happen. She just wasn't sure what.

The soft creak of her doorknob turning had her chin snapping up, pressing her lips together in an effort not to cry out. Remembering the blade she had hidden underneath her bed, she ducked down, forcing herself to breathe evenly. She didn't know who it was, maybe she wasn't in danger. Her mom had promised her she'd be safe. She'd promised.

She listened to the soft footsteps, getting louder as it got closer. Then it stopped.

"Why, what are you doing down there?"

Her eyes, wide and glassy with fear, looked up with a sharp gasp.

"Oh," her hands were trembling slightly. "It's you." She stood up now, almost embarrassed that it was Nate, of all people, who'd caused her to panic. "Do you need anything?"

He didn't answer her, but side stepped her bed, which stood in between them, and took a step closer to her.

"What do you want Nate? It's really getting late," She really was quite tired, and getting increasingly annoyed.

He took another step towards her, and that action, accompanied with the look in his eyes had the fear creeping its way back into her belly. She looked towards the door, contemplating on making a quick escape. But he'd shut it. And somehow pushed her small cabinet in front of it.

He was just three feet away from her.

"Nate, what the hell are you doing?" She tried to force her voice to sound annoyed, but it came out more like a squeak. "I need to sleep, just get out already." Two feet. "This isn't funny Nate." One foot…

He had her backed against the wall now. She tried to move to the side, but he brought up his arms on both sides onto the wall, effectively encaging her.

Her hands were cold now, so cold. And she formed a fist with them, trying to control her nerves.

He, if it was even possible, stepped closer to her. She felt him, hard, against her. Lifting his hands from the wall, he placed them on her shoulder instead. He slid them up to her neck, her face. Looking at her like he was staring at an art piece. His fingers glided back down to her throat, where it rested on her pulse. She was sure he could feel the hammering of her heart.

"I've been watching you, Sarah." He said her name reverently. Like savoring a fine, rare wine. "I've been watching you all the time. You have no idea how much I've wanted you all this time. The moment you set foot in my house. I've wanted you. Just like my father wants your mother." He leaned in now, licked her jaw lightly, lingering over her rapid pulse.

"Don't be an idiot," She made an attempt at a laugh. "I'm only twelve, and you're what, fourteen? Lets take things slow, huh? How about a date, right now? Lets wake the cook and smuggle some wine as well." Please, please, she silently begged, just get out of here.

He leaned back again, and she saw something flash in his eyes. "No," It came out as all but a growl. "I've taken things slow enough, had my fair share of waiting. After all," He stroked her cheek lightly, "don't you want me as well?"

Swooping down, he captured her lips in his own. His were naïve and unskilled, but vicious, as he clawed her lips open with his tongue. She felt sick, as she forced herself to move with him. Just for a while, she told herself, just for a while and he'll leave and I'll get out, with or without my mother.

She heard him moan, as he squeezed her small breasts in each hand, and felt her stomach clench.

Somehow he'd managed to cross the room with her lips still captured in his own, and knocked her onto her desk. Oh God, please no. Tears started to form in her eyes as he tried to tear her large baggy shirt in half.

He didn't intend to stop, she realized, he didn't plan to. She couldn't let him do this to her. She was twelve. She was a child!

With something short of a battle cry, she managed to shove himself off her, and made a break for the door. But he was faster than her, stronger than her. He grabbed the back of her shirt and threw her onto the floor, pinning her flailing arms down with his own.

"Get off me you freak," Her voice was venom.

"Don't you love me? Why'd you try to run away?"

She answered by spitting in his face.

A look of annoyance and anger replaced his confusion. "Don't do that."

"Do what, this?" And she spat at his again.

She expected him to cry out in frustration and get off her, but she didn't expect his to deliver a stinging slap across her face.

He leaned down, and positioned himself so she could feel his dick pressing against her. "Listen to me, and listen well. I really like you right now, so don't make me change my mind. Let me make you happy, just like my father makes your mother happy. If you don't, I'll make sure your mother and you gets kicked out. Understand?" She waited for her to nod, then continued, this time, his voice soft, almost as if wanting to reassure her. "I really do like you. I've never done this before. You're my first. I hope that makes you happy. Maybe if my father wants, I'll share you with him."

She went limp at his threat. There was nothing she could do now. If she didn't comply, she would jeopardize the mission.

She felt him swell when he realized he'd won. He ran his fingers through her hair, fanned out around her head on the floor, and slowly smoothed them around her head.

He tore her shirt fully open and touched her in ways no one had ever before. He stripped off her shorts, and her panties, and stroked her, licked her, cooing her name over and over. Flipping her around, her fumbled with the clasp of her bra, and then that was off too.

He laid on top of her now, smothering her with his weight, his head on her chest. Then, he stretched up, and licked the stream of tears, flowing freely out of her eyes, kissed her trembling lower lip.

"Shh," He made sure to say. "I won't hurt you. Don't cry, don't worry."

Kneeling up, he slowly unbuttoned he shirt, lifting her chin, making sure she was looking at him. He fumbled with the belt of his jeans, and that came off too. He stood up, and dropped his briefs.

Picking her up under her arms, he sat her on the edge of her bed.

"Look," He said, smiling. "All I am, it's all for you."

But he frowned when she didn't respond.

"Come on, you can do better than that." He picked up her hand, unclenched her fists, and brought them to himself. Made her touch him. And when she jerked back, a kind of fire came into his eyes. "Yes, yes. Like that."

He forced himself on her again, and when she struggled to push him away, he mistook it for excitement. They fought each other in the earnest, rolling off the bed, falling onto the ground. But he was still stronger, and managed to subdue her in the end. She was covered in bruises, and tears were cascading down. He stood up, and walked away for a moment, and she almost let out a sob of relieve it was over. Then he came back, with a condom in hand.

She saw this, and turned away, curled on her side like a fetal position. She heard him curse, and toss it away. "Don't need the bloody thing anyway," he mumbled.

She kicked out at him when he spread her legs wide. But she still couldn't stop him. He plunged inside her, thrusting his hips, ignoring her whimpers of pain and distress. He emptied himself in her, and when he was empty, he looked into her eyes, and plunged his penis into her mouth.

She jerked up, her lungs screaming; sweat pouring down her back like she'd run a marathon. She gathered herself up, and clutched her arms around her knees, rocking herself.

It's over, she chanted to herself, it's over. And it'll never happen again.

It was early in the morning, and the air was biting cold. She'd managed to toss off her blankets in the course of her nightmare, and found it as a heap on the floor. She shivered, and forced her tears back, managing to calm herself enough to realize that they would have to wake up any moment already, if her watch was any indication.

She took a moment more to compose herself, then gathered her shower items and headed down to the showers. The water would be a shock to her system this early in the morning, if she waited a few minutes later, it wouldn't have made much difference, and she needed to wake herself up anyway.

She braced herself before stepping under the running water. Surprisingly, the water was rather warm. They must have fixed the heaters since her last visit here. However, she wasn't looking for warmth and comfort. She pushed the knob down all the way down to the left, and the water immediately dropped about ten degrees. She stood there until she realized she was shivering. Unhooking her towel off the door, she wrapped herself up and walked out of the cubical naked, sure that no one would be heading down to the showers so early, and dressed. She was surprised for a second time that morning as the girls started streaming into the bathrooms, eyes half closed and grouchy, clearly annoyed by whatever method that had been used by the SAS men to wake them, just when she was walking out.

They left a wide berth around her, watching her out of their corner of their eyes as she walked past them. She rolled her eyes behind their lids, and had to stifle a laugh as one of the girls staring at her walked backwards into the wall of the hut, at least two feet from the door.

She shook her dripping bangs out of her eyes, and headed back towards her cabin to dump her stuff before going to get breakfast. But she spotted someone all too familiar leaning against the side of the girls' cabin, as if waiting for someone. When he looked up and started towards her, she was pretty sure it was her he was waiting for. It took her a split second to decide, and she was already heading towards the mess hall before she knew she'd actually decided.

Alex filed into the mess hall along with his other male classmates and had to suppress a sigh. If they were already complaining this much about just about everything, heaven knew what they would do at the end of the day. Only Tom, who was the only one with an inkling of what they would be put through, kept his mouth shut, after several glances at Alex's increasingly annoyed face.

The group of them lined up at the counter, earning dirty looks from the unit that had the misfortune to arrive just after them.

And in Alex's opinion, though he kept them to himself, they deserved them. They were more fickle minded about what they were having for breakfast than a cheerleader choosing clothes at a mall. When it was Alex's turn, he simply accepted whatever he was given by the person on duty at the counter and stepped to the side, waiting for Tom.

The person at the counter gave Alex the once over, and said gruffly, "you all right kid." Then dumped a scoop of something slimy and grey onto Aaron's plate, much to his disgust and protests. They shared a small smirk, then the moment was gone, and he called the next kid over.

The four of them sat together, Alex, Tom, Jesse and Chris. They'd never really had a definite time where they had become friends, it just somehow happened, and the four of them had stuck together ever since. Though Jesse and Chris were closer just like Alex and Tom.

"Wonder what they're going to make us do," Chris said, in a trying-in-vain-to-be-subtle way of asking Alex.

Since only a moron wouldn't catch the double meaning, he looked up, ready to answer the question, when the doors of the mess hall opened with a bang.

Heads turned, and so did his, curious about the commotion.

"Get lost you freak," He recognised that voice, Sarah.

"Just listen, ok? You don't understand." A hispanic looking man, almost a foot taller than her pleaded.

"What's there to understand? Huh? It's over right?"

"This is ridiculous, go dry yourself then we'll go somewhere private and finish this conversation." It was true, Alex noted, she really was dripping, and clutching her bathing stuff. What the hell?

"You want to know what's ridiculous? You talking to me," She spun around and faced him. "I never want to talk to you again. Just get out of my freaking sight. Got that?"

He tried to reach out for her hand, but faster than light, her hand shot out using her towel as a whip. And hit his... Well, something that made him drop like a stone, biting his tongue to stop a groan.

"Try using that again asshole," Her words were acid, as she leant over him.

She stood up, and headed towards to doors of the hall again, but met the Sergeant at the entrance.

"What happened to Leopard?" He jutted his chin towards the man still on the floor.

"He's really whipped," She smiled, and walked out.


	6. First Day

**It's been forever! Oh goodness, I'm so sorry this chapter is so late. But school is surprisingly tiring):  
I'll probably be super behind on my work now. But I just had to post this. To the awesome reviewers, here's the update! Enjoy(:**

~*~*~

"Cub," The lecturer suddenly snapped, a stark contrast from his previously droning voice. "When chemically treating water, state the environment and conditions needed, along with the condition of the chemical."

Half the class, consisting of SAS men, smirked in their seats. He hadn't been here for that lesson; there was no way he could have known that.

"Well sir, one of the chemicals that could be used is liquid preparation of 2% tincture of iodine. Add five drops to a quart of clear water, or ten drops if the water is cloudy. Shake it well, and let it set for about half an hour. Longer if the temperature is low."

The lecturer's mouth turned down, obviously sour at losing a chance to pick at him. "Yes, but what you forgot was that one needs to make sure the treated water is not poured back into the container in which it was first collected." Realizing that his rebuke was actually pretty much common sense, he cleared his throat, and moved on to another topic.

Alex let a small sigh escape, and leaned back in his chair again. He had not needed to fret so much over the work they had assigned him after all. It was extremely advanced compared to what the SAS men were doing at the moment; so many of his readings seemed so ridiculously unnecessary now. They must have just been testing him.

He had chosen a seat around the middle, not wanting to draw attention to himself, with Tom and Chris flanking him. The rest of his classmates had scattered themselves around him, following his lead, as they usually did now. Most of them were paying attention, as the gory images on the screen seemed to interest their morbid side. Stacey 's friend Grace had squealed until the lecturer threatened to offer her a first hand account of amputation in the field. She kept her mouth shut after that.

Sarah was sitting right in front, closest to the podium on which the "teacher" stood. She had one hand on the table, leaning forward, and had been in that position since the lecture started two and a half hours ago, somehow continuing to give rapt attention. She had bundled her hair up with a pencil into a messy knot, with several stray strands, wearing the uniform they had been given the night before. Which, technically, was only several hours before.

He glanced down at his watch. 11.53. The lecture was scheduled to end soon. He wondered why they had been given the luxury of missing the usual morning five-kilometer jog. Maybe somehow orders had trickled down to the Sergeant from Blunt or Jones to go easy on them. He sincerely hoped so.

"Ok, that's the end of this particular course." The lecturer wrapped up, already packing his things from the table. "You will be tested on the subject in your final assessment near the end of your training. That is all." And he walked out.

He watched the other units file out, obviously knowing their next destination. He fixed his eyes on the table, feeling everyone's questioning gaze on him. He wasn't used to this. Being in charge all the time, being responsible for anyone else but him. Sighing, he stood up. Only to be followed by everyone else in just about the same second. He contemplated briefly whether to sit down again, which was better than standing up aimlessly like a moron. When the doors of the "classroom" flew open, and four burly men stepped in. One of them stepped in front of the rest.

"What do you think you all are doing? Standing around like a bunch of useless gits. GET MOVING YOU BABIES. You got two minutes to haul your asses to the court. Anyone later than us, I'll rip out your tongue and make you skip with it, got that?" He turned on his heel, and followed his unit, who were all grinning sinisterly, out. Just as the door swung shut, he poked his head back in again. "By the way. It takes five minutes to get down to the court from here." With that, he barked out a laugh, and left again. At that same moment, everyone's heads swung to look at Alex. He vaguely wondered why they weren't so hung on Sarah's every action.

He glanced at Tom, and jerked his head towards the door. Both of them stepped out of their seats. And suddenly everyone stood up too. Simultaneously, they rolled their eyes.

"We better run, they weren't kidding about the tongue skipping thing."

"I could tell," Tom grinned, and mouthed, "I'll race you, see if we can shake off some of your rabid fans." Knowing Alex could lip-read.

They both laughed, and jumped over their tables, and out the doors. Sprinting towards the court. His classmates took a moment, before they comprehended that their leader had just deserted them. There was a sudden frantic scrambling out off seats, and everyone was pushing to get to the front first. By the time everyone was out of the room, Alex and Tom were half way to the court, and the rest had to chase after them.

Everyone arrived within a minute and forty five seconds.

But no one was there yet.

Everyone took a minute or two to get their breaths back, then, as only teenagers can do, broke off into their respective cliques and began talking amongst themselves. They were perfectly contented with their idle chat, until it started to drizzle. A few light drops at first, which no one paid any particular attention to. But slowly it started to increase in speed and volume. There was a short flurry of panic when people were about to run off to look for shelter.

However, Alex simply shook his head, and everybody settled down again, - They would be skinned alive with their pelt decorating the cabin of whichever unit in charge of them at the moment if they did- choosing to brave the rain with him rather than be warm, however warm you could be in those Welsh temperatures anyway, and dry without him.

Sarah sat at the fringe of their little group, and stared into space. He wondered what she was thinking about, and was about to go over to her when he spotted two units walking to them through the curtain of rain.

Alex stood, and observed his classmates as they gathered towards him, without being told to. He guessed it was an instinctive reaction for people to need to feel support from others of their kind when faced with a threat or outsiders. Sarah had joined them, lingering at the edge of their little group.

He turned his head, and realized it was the K and D unit. Wolf and a man whose code name he did not know stepped forward.

"Good afternoon children," Wolf addressed them- the rain wasn't so heavy as to overpower the sound of his voice- and his tone was purposely insultingly sweet. "I know all of you must be wondering what you're doing here. Well, I'll let my friend Bear explain it to you. If you understand me, please nod your head." He apparently wasn't satisfied with their reactions, and let acid seep into his next few words. "Nod you babies, or I'll make you suffer till you resemble those bobble heads in cars."

He smirked, and took a step back, while the other stepped in front. "My name is bear, and I'm the leader of the D unit, which includes shark, lion and hawk. That's Wolf, leader of K unit, which includes fox, eagle and snake. For now until the dinner, we're in charge. So you better worship the ground we step on, or we'll make your meaningless lives even more miserable."

He glanced at wolf, and let him have the stage again. "You're probably wondering why you're here now. To be honest, you kids were supposed to be here at six this morning. But then if you remember, the weather was really nice this morning, and we thought, do the brainless morons deserve to train in such nice weather? The answer is, of course, no!"

They swapped positions again, and bear said, "So we sent you to some random lecture until the rain started to kick in. And look how wonderful it is now!" He smiled coldly, and continued. "It's freezing, and your shoes are all wet, so you'll probably get lots of wonderful blisters. The ground's wet and muddy. So you won't only slip and fall, you'll get dirty too. Not to mention the earthworms that'll be joining you everywhere."

Alex had no doubt that these men were enjoying themselves.

Wolf took over again. "We'll be testing you today first. To ascertain your level of fitness and endurance. You will be put into groups according to the results, and then given group names. We will not bother to assign you codenames, since that would be a waste of time, and also since all of you aren't worth it. Cub and fawn will be joining all of you, but training with each other." A muscle in his jaw twitched, exposing his anger and disapproval at this. "But they won't be given special treatment, in fact, believe it or not, their life is going to suck more than all of yours'."

"You will each complete three hundred sit ups, eighty push ups, a hundred and ninety squats, and ten rounds around the track and ten laps in the lake to the end and back. Should you at anytime feel unable to continue, _continue anyway_. Unless you experience major breathing difficulties. But if we catch you faking, we will ensure you have actual major breathing difficulties. Are we clear?"

There was a chorus of "yes sirs", and everyone scrambled to spread out to complete the assigned tasks. Alex stood awkwardly beside Sarah, and gestured to the boys who were already on the ground with his hand. "We should probably start." But it came out more as a question.

She nodded, and sat down on the cold concrete as well. Seemingly unaffected by the layer of sand and mud which stuck to it like glue. He also sat down, forcing himself to not let the slight discomfort he was feeling show on his face.

"You can carry me back to the bunks after this if you want, since I'll be incapable of feeling my limbs." She said to him, with a small smile before starting her three hundred sit ups.

He was thankful for the soccer trainings he managed to squeeze in between his missions, if not for which he would he died a painful dead while doing his push ups. He tried to focus on other things besides the number he had left. Televisions, coke, soccer… forty-five, damn it. Ice cream, movies, songs… thirty-eight, damn it again. Homework, math, school rules… thirty-one, why wasn't the number seem to be getting any smaller?

He looked to his right, where Sarah was, and was vaguely surprised. She didn't meet his expectations in the fitness arena. Super fit, skilled in martial arts, skillful in lies and deception were his immediate inferences from the fact that she was apparently like him. So far she'd failed to impress him. In fact, she was struggling, and rather obviously. He moved on to his squats, and she was only half way through her push-ups.

However, she somehow managed to catch up with him and was practically neck and neck with him while running towards the track. He saw that Aaron and some other boys were slightly ahead of them. They were full out sprinting, and Alex found himself smirking. There was no way they could keep up that speed for the rest of the course. The tar track offered no rebound in their steps, and the force of each time the foot landed had to be sucking the strength out of them.

True enough, his fifth round, he passed them, all too self-conscious to admit they couldn't continue much longer. They would be binned if that happened, and hopefully get kitchen duty as punishment.

Sarah was just a meter behind him, and he wondered how long she could keep this up. Her breaths were deeps and wheezy, and he could swear he heard her sob once or twice. But she seemed persistent enough, if the fact that she never broke pace once was any indication.

He wanted to say something, anything. Perhaps a word of encouragement. But realized it might be best just to let her be. And he didn't have the breath or the strength for it anyways. They had only two more rounds, then the laps, and they were done. Sweat was dripping into his eyes, but he focused on that sting instead of his body's screaming protests. He could feel the skin of his feet rubbing against his unbroken boots, and knew several parts of them had stretched into painful blisters.

Finally they finished the rounds, they sprinted over to the lake, hoping to finish faster.

It didn't look natural at all. Most lakes had either a gentle or steep gradient covered in stones and small creatures before it was deep enough for someone to swim, and you had to slowly wad in. However, this one was simply like stepping into a dark, freezing swimming pool.

Alex pulled his shirt over his head and dumped it on the ground beside him. He tore off his boots and socks as well, wincing when his blistered skin stuck to it. He was vaguely surprised when Sarah caught up with him, and, with almost unnoticeable hesitation, pulled off her shirt and boots as well.

He flushed and looked away as she did that, trying to help her preserve her modesty. From his peripheral vision, he saw that she was ready, and without planning to, they dived in at the same time.

From about a couple hundred yards away, Bear and Wolf watched them. "Well, what do you know?" Bear said, "Maybe fawny baby and that kid will make a proper double oh seven duo after all."

The first two laps were a welcome relief from being on his feet for so long. But after the fourth lap and he couldn't feel his fingers or toes anymore, he figured he would have done better with the running.

He sometimes purposely slowed down for Sarah to catch up, pretending to choke or resting by treading water.

In the last and final lap, they raced towards the end together, and when he broke through the surface for the last breath, he smiled to himself. He was first.

He heard her a couple meters behind him, gasping for breath, then re-entering the water to finish that short distance. But he didn't hear her resurface. He twisted his body around, and saw, in the distance, his classmates nearing the finish point. But no Sarah. Without thinking, he dived in again.


	7. A Preview

**HELLO EVERYONE! It's literally been years since I've updated! OH how I've missed Alex. Anyway. Normal disclaimer. I don't own Alex Rider and blabla.**  
**This update is more of a taste of what's to come in the future. You sorta see where it's going(: hopefully I update soon. Forgot how much I've loved writing. I promise the fangirls out there there'll be more "ZOMG ALEX IS SO HOT COOL AND SEXY" moments to come. Enjoy~**

**A.N (20 Jan 2012) Hey guys(: thanks so, so much for informing me of the no women in SAS rule(: I've stated that rule in recent chapters, and I've made adjustments in the plot line to stick to that policy as well(: thank you HollyBlue2 and imagineaworld. Really grateful both of you took the time to inform me of my mistakes(: but then again, this is sorta fiction, so kindly bear with the little nuances from reality here and there okay(: much appreciated. Really greatful to all of you reading this. REVIEWERS. You. Make. My. Day^^)**

He knew there was no use in opening his eyes under the murky water, and relied solely on his touch to find his lost comrade. He flailed his arms, trying to fight his body's natural buoyancy. Reaching out with his legs, he kicked out, hoping to get a feel of where she was. But he received no resistance except from the water. He made a split second decision and spent a few precious seconds out of the water, taking a deep breath as well as checking how far away his classmates were, before plunging in again. If she was lost under water with twenty struggling teens above her there was no way he would be able to find her in time.

He straightened his legs, and gained his bearings, before swimming downwards head first, all the while keeping his strokes wide and slow, again hoping to feel her somewhere within his reach. He went on for about two meters, when his left foot brushed something. He twisted his body, and sincerely hoped it was her and not some dead decomposing marine animal. But when his numbed fingers felt the distinct features of a face, he let out a silent victory cry, and grabbed what he thought as her arm and immediately headed for the surface.

He broke through the surface with a cry, and navigated himself towards the shore. He had to drag her over the coarse black sand away from his approaching classmates, before he could check for her almost non-existent pulse.

He kneeled beside her, feeling his blister tearing in objection to this action, but he ignored the searing pain. Instead focusing on the basic rhythm of CPR.

Come on, he thought, don't give out on me yet.

One, two, three, four, five, six, check for breathing. One, two, three, four, five, six, check for breathing. One two…

Finally on his sixth attempt, her body convulsed slightly, and she snapped open her eyes, turning her body away as if on instinct, and threw up.

He rubbed her back in circles, unsure of what to do next. His classmates were slowly arriving one by one, and he could hear them already buzzing about the scene before them.

"I don't know, maybe she's pregnant or something."

He almost laughed out loud, they had to be joking.

"Alex."

He turned at his name, and saw Tom standing there stripped to the waist and absolutely dripping wet, along with the rest of his class. Most had been smart enough to lose their dignity for a while and chose to strip off the ten ton camouflage suit. But apparently some had overestimated the material's supposed water-proof abilities. Those people were lying face down, just along the bank, too tired and to anything else.

Alex jerked his chin at his friend, universal teenage sign for 'What's up'.

His friend started towards them, but he narrowed his eyes fractionally, and shook his head. He wasn't sure how Sarah was handling whatever had happened to her yet.

Tom seemed to get the message, and nodded. Retreating back to his rather disappointed friends, whom would now not be able to know what had happened.

"Sorry," she said, her body still turned away from him. Her voice was low and rough. Her throat almost swollen shut from her near-drowning experience.

"There's nothing to say sorry for."

She didn't answer him, and he thought she was going to throw up again. But she simply stayed in that position, refusing to turn to him. He turned away from her, and saw that Wolf and Bear were making their way towards them. Not sure of their possible reactions, he quickly reached over and nudged her shoulder. If they decided to bin them, he would have countless hours of quality time with the dishes and kitchen.

She seemed to get the message, and got to her knees, trying to push herself up with her hands. But she was unstable, and fell over at the last second. He reached out and grabbed her without thinking. Then became very well aware of the fact that she was not wearing anything other than a black sports bra and the unfortunate dirty green camouflage pants issued to them. He quickly released her, and was thankful when she was able to balance herself on her own.

"Thanks," She muttered again. He couldn't tell if it was sarcasm.

She was pale, near the colour of corpses he had seen before. But besides that, based on his subtle scrutiny, she looked unharmed. She looked at him, her expression one he was unfamiliar to. He shifted his weight uncomfortably, and felt an unpleasant tug beneath his foot. Looking down, he realised the blister that had been torn was bleeding. He grimaced, and tried to ignore the small puddle of blood his wound had produced.

"Shit, was that my fault?"

He glanced up, and realised she was staring at his foot with him. And he suddenly felt embarrassed.

"No, no. Just the stupid rocks on the shore."

She didn't look convinced, but kept her mouth shut as she spotted bear and wolf making their way over to them.

"What in hell's name was that?" Bear demanded. He didn't even wait till they were within speaking distance to ask. His voice soared over the twenty meters that separated them, as he and fox continued to walk towards them.

Their long strides quickly closed the distance between them and the two adolescent spies.

"Give me an answer fawn, before I have to dunk your head back into the water again to wake you up." Wolf warned, his mouth turned down in disapproval. "Tell me why every one of your classmates, no matter how shit their timing was, managed to finish the task set for them. While you were unable to, and even required cub to be your knight in freaking amour."

When Sarah gave no hint of having heard his question, bear raised his eyebrows questioningly at Alex. If it was any other soldier, he would have binned him on the spot and given him kitchen duty for the rest of his life for not following orders. But this was fawn, always having something to say, always finding an argument for everything, and most of the time winning. He wouldn't have confessed it to anyone, but her sudden silence worried him.

Alex mistook this acknowledgement as a hint to cover up for her.

"I'm sorry sir, it's actually my fault. You see I kicked her in the face as we were approaching the last part of the lap in my haste to finish first. So the accident was caused by-"

"Oh please, don't Alex," She cut in, her tone acidic. She looked up at Wolf, "I was unable to complete the course due to the lack of my own abilities sir." She hesitated briefly, then continued. "I would be willing to attempt the course again should my commanding officers see fit."

Wolf raised his brows, and sneered. "You couldn't complete it the first time, you think you can do it the second?"

"Given time, yes."

Wolf opened his mouth, insults burning on his tongue, begging to be spat out. However he paused, when Bear placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Time is not something you can afford in this line." There was no heat in Bear's words, no anger. Just a cold, chilly disgust that reminded her just a little too much of her mother.

"I understand."

"I doubt so. Report to the kitchens tonight and every night until you do so, perhaps that you understand?"

The punishment was expected, however the cold, unfeeling manner in which it was delivered- "Yes sir, I understand." She hoped her voice hadn't been betrayed by the quiver somewhere deep in her gut.

From his peripheral vision, Alex saw someone totter and sway for a moment. He turned his head just a fraction, in time to see one of his classmates collapse into a heap on the ground. Several screams followed his descent, along with cries of "Oh my gosh, Hector is dead! He's dead!"

Wolf grunted, shrugging off Bear's hand. "We better check whether the midget really is dead."

With escalating shrieking in the back ground, Alex turned towards the commotion fully, and started towards the crowd.

"Thank you," he thought he heard her mummer. But then again, he couldn't be sure.

Despite the ordeal they had to endure that early afternoon, it had only taken a little over three hours, leaving them with several more before to go before they were finally allowed back to their bunks to rest. Apparently Hector wasn't dead, and had regained consciousness after much prodding by Wolf's foot. However, they were fortunately allowed 15 minutes to go back to their bunks to change. Surprisingly, their luggage had already been scanned and checked for whatever they were looking for and were heaped into a sad looking pile near the base of the small hill where their bunks where situated. It took ten precious minutes to allow everyone to find their bags and another 3 for everyone to change.

Alex was quietly surprised at the haste of his peers, and wondered if they'd finally fully comprehended the level of discipline they would have to keep up with in order to survive there.

They met at the base of the hill, where they had been instructed to gather before being dismissed. The girls managed to make it around the same time as the boys, owing to the fact that their cabins were slightly closer. The whole group looked worse for wear despite the fresh set of uniforms they had donned to replace their soaking wet ones. Many were limping and everyone seemed, in Alex's mind, slightly withered. There was no more space for pride with the exhaustion clouding their senses, and the majority of them, even the guys, were leaning on one another for support.

"This is crazy," Tom kept his voice low, watching his peers. Yet he knew Alex would know it was him he was talking to. "This isn't even the first day. How are we going to survive?"

"I don't know." There was a small part of him that was growing, weighing on him, telling him that this was all his fault.

"It's not your fault you know."

Alex huffed out a breath, too tired for a proper laugh. Somehow Tom always managed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"I still don't know Tom. I was here for just days before, and I almost couldn't take it. I have no idea how long it will before Blunt thinks it safe for all of you. What we had just now was just a taste of what's to come."

Silence answered him, which meant Tom didn't know what to do either.

"Cub."

Alex turned at his code name and spotted snake. He stood at the edge of their group, looking at Alex expectantly.

"See you later," he patted Tom's shoulder heavily, before making his way over to his superior.

"Sergeant wants to see you." His tone left no chance for questions and Alex followed him, wondering what he had done this time.

The routes they took were familiar, and Alex found himself remembering experiences he'd rather forget. They walked past a clearing where two units were having unarmed combat training, using a mixture of aikido and some other form that he recognized but wasn't exactly sure of. Their staccato shouts filled the air, interrupted now and then by loud thuds followed immediately by painful grunts.

He spotted the jungle play ground from hell just up ahead. There seemed to have been changes made to it and he quickened his steps slightly, hoping to see what had been done, when snake veered right into a fork in the path and he had no choice but to follow. A muffled yell followed by a sound that was between a splash and a splat told him whatever they had done to it; the favourite slime pit had remained. Oh joy.

They reached the administrative building and snake turned to him. "He's waiting for you inside."

Alex nodded, knowing there was nothing else to be said and walked in.

"Alex."

He kept his face straight and changed nothing in his posture, but he was surprised to see both Blunt and Jones along with the Sergeant in the lobby of the admin building.

The presence of Blunt and Jones did nothing to suppress his grief for Jack; instead it refreshed the memories that had been haunting him in his subconscious and his dreams every night. Try as he might, no matter what he did or how hard he tried to replace the images of her with the material he had to study, the image of her smiling, laughing… dead were still clearly printed in his head.

"Would it be appropriate to have the meeting here sir, my office might be slightly crowded."

It was the first time Alex had heard the Sergeant ask a question and though he didn't show it, it threw him off slightly. Furthermore, he knew that the Sergeant's office would be more than adequate to allow all four of them to sit and speak comfortably.

Blunt merely nodded, and it dawned on Alex that it would have been wrong for the Sergeant to sit behind the desk, in a position of power, with his superiors. He wanted to smile, but he controlled himself. Even the Sergeant had people he couldn't shout at, it was an encouraging thought.

"You must be wondering what we are here for Alex." Jones, who was sitting in an uncomfortable looking mud brown chair, addressed him.

He said nothing again, knowing his questions would be answered without him having to ask them.

"The leak has been located and dealt with." Blunt cut in, and Alex knew whoever had betrayed him and his agency would likely be suffering as they spoke. "But it doesn't change the fact that your classmates are likely still to be in danger. We sent them here with the intention of keeping them safe from further danger or possible threats posed by Scorpia and other organizations. However in the process of that, we discovered that we had, how should we put it, another teenage spy in our midst.

"Now it was my intention that these children be equipped with essential self defense skills during their stay here while we clear up this mess before they are released back to their parents and such, with the lot of them signing the OSA. However based on the test today…" He trailed off, a look of mild contempt on his face.

"We find that we may have overestimated these children," Jones continued. "The men here have made it clear that they are a disgrace to this military training area and that they would not be able to keep up with the training. We have just discussed it briefly and have decided that it would be best to send these children to a secure site while you and Sarah will stay here to further your training."

"Where will you send them?"

"There has always been a faci-"

"Enough." Blunt studied Alex's face from where he sat. "There is no need for you to know that information. They will be deported by the end of this week, in three days. In the meanwhile, I will not have the men here wasting their time training these children. I expected better from them."

They would be released back home within another week, by Alex's estimation. The government would want to keep this entire fiasco under wraps, which they couldn't do if parents began to worry and blow things up. Alex also knew the chances of ever seeing them again were slim to none.

"Your training here," Blunt continued, "will begin from where you left off. However, it will include extra… elements. I assume our conversation before still stands, about you working with us." He waiting a beat, when there was no objection, he continued. "You would require many more skills in order for you to survive and fair better on future missions. The languages you speak are fluent enough, but you would require a few more. Russian and mandarin for a start. Etiquette, acting, art, dance. Chemistry, physics, biology, engineering. Poisons, the venoms of animals you can use. The use of guns and weapons. You would require years to hone these skills. Those years will be spent here. In this period, we will call you out occasionally for missions."

Alex literally felt his head reeling. It was too much to comprehend at once. Yet he felt himself nodding, agreeing to his life being planned out for him. What else could he do? He had nothing else to live for.

"Sarah will join you in your training." Jones took over, and waited for his eyes to focus on her before she continued. She knew it was a lot to handle, and she worried when it would get too much for him. "She has had much more experience in you, but in different ways. We hope that you two will be able to work well together."

The Sergeant listened to this with his usual poker face. He had read Alex's file the night they went to retrieve the midgets from the forest and despite all his years on the force, he found it hard to believe this kid saved his ass along with the world so many times. This was confirmation that everything he hadn't dared to believe was true.

Jones looked at him and he took over. "Normally the SAF don't allow females to train with us. We had some on the admin staff, but absolutely minimal. The only time where one was allowed with train with us was when Fawn arrived. She was here under special conditions. She trained with a unit different from yours. Both of you will no longer be placed with a unit. You will be working together now, a pair or a unit on your own. You will be scheduled to work with different units on different sites and on different trainings. After the kids leave, the two bunks will be used for other purposes, you two will share a bunk. I will assign it to you two at a later date. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

Jones took over again. "Then that will be all Alex, your training with Sarah will start the day they leave. Report here to collect your schedule once they do. In the mean while, over the next three days, you two will temporarily be under K-Unit. Your classmates will follow to observe and for the men to keep an eye on them."

When he didn't move, she repeated herself. "That will be all Alex."

He glanced at Blunt, kept his eyes level and just looked at him. "I'm working for you now. Officially. I would very much appreciate it if you stopped lying to me."

"Alex, what are you-"

Blunt interrupted Jones. "No. Let him speak."

"You happened to realize she was a 'spy' too? And it just so happened that she's in the same class as me. Nothing is coincidence with you people. And it just so happened that you decide to put her and I into the same unit. Same bunk."

Blunt laced his fingers together and placed them below his chin. "Very good Alex. You two will be working very closely over the next few years. It would be best if you two were to be able to play lovers during missions. The honeymoon couple would be an apt cover no matter where you went, no? However, during single missions, you should be able to put aside emotions and understand that she would need to do the job no matter what."

"I'll report in three days." Without another word, he turned and started towards the door.

"Oh and Alex," the sound of Blunt's voice very nearly raised the hairs on the back of his neck. "Do inform your classmates of the changes."

Alex walked out.


	8. Another Preview

**HEY THERE. Thank you so much for reading all the way till here.**

**I hope this chapter leaves you in a little more suspense about Sarah's past(: It's not really a ZOMG HOT ALEX chapter. But I've written the next one already and I'm itching to put it up. I have to say. The next chapter is my **_**favourite**_** of the lot so far. Await it(;**

**Anyway THANK YOU REVIEWERS. You guys sincerely make me smile.****ReillyScarecrowRocks**** and HollyBlue2, thanks for pointing out the mistakes. Thank you Aestiva for the request. And ****Alex Meikle. You have no idea how much that meant to me. Saying this is "by far one of the best alex rider stories in a while".**

**I've rambled enough. Now, please, enjoy~**

"You have thirteen seconds to assemble your gun, five to aim and shoot your target, another thirteen to dismantle your gun then you start the cycle again. I want a hundred cycles; time is inclusive of the extra seconds you need to get ready your new magazines. Every shot outside the target adds ten seconds to your score. If your gun jams, there will be no extra time given for correction. No questions?" The surprisingly non-buff- lanky instructor for this particular course spoke faster than the impressive rate at which he could aim and fire, leaving no time for any of them to raise any doubts or queries should have had any. "No? Good. Start."

Alex didn't think. He touched the cold, hard metal that somehow whispered of evil and let himself carry out the sequence that had been drilled into him since a little over half an hour ago.

Before the course, he had returned to the group and explained briefly what the plans concerning them were. There had been numerous shouts of joy and several tears and sobs of relief, not all coming from the girls. He'd left Tom's side before he could fully comprehend the news and went over to Sarah.

"We're both staying here."

"I know."

He frowned slightly, looking at her, not understanding. "Are you angry?"

"No, I don't see why I should be."

"They decided for you. At least I made my choice. I said I would stay, I would work for them."

"You said you made your choice, but we both know you felt coerced into it. Truthfully, did you have any other choices?"

No. He almost said it. But then it occurred to him. There was always a choice. He could have been at some horrid boarding school at that moment, worrying about teachers and fitting in with his classmates already at whatever facility Jones was talking about. They wouldn't have been completely safe. But then again, they were going there soon anyway.

She saw him hesitate. "You see, I'm different. I never had a choice."

BANG.

Alex just finished assembling his gun, when the sound of the first shot pierced the air. He didn't need to look over to know who it was.

Despite her obvious lack of physical abilities, Sarah had far exceeded his and the unit they were training with's expectations when it came to her skills with this particular type of ammunition. She correctly identified every make and model of the different guns that the instructor had shown to them and had shown an outstanding aptitude in shooting. When the lesson first began, they were each given a semiautomatic with a full magazine and placed in front of a row of targets, twelve in total.

"You see those targets, gents?" It didn't matter to the instructor that there was a teenage girl in his class. He'd always addressed the men as gents and one girl wouldn't change his habit. "There are twelve shots in your mag. In the fastest time possible, with your most accurate aim, take a shot at each target. Just a little test to see how much each of you suck."

The leader of one unit had stepped up to the challenge. He had a rather boyish face and a mischievous grin, which he flashed before beginning.

"17.7 seconds."

His team mate did marginally better at 17.2, much to his obvious chagrin. However the timings got worse after that, ending off with a secretly mortified Alex who managed it in 18.9. He knew he could have bested them easily had he been allowed just a little warm up time. He'd been one of the better shooters despite his lack of practice and experience during his time at Scorpia. He assured himself that he'd beat every one of their timings by the end of the day, comforting himself slightly when the instructor scoffed and wrote down what he had managed.

"Ok girl. You're up."

The units present snickered, not bothering to hide their amusement.

To Alex's surprise, he caught a knowing glance between the instructor and her, before she, to his bigger surprise, put on a- there was no other word for it- show.

She fired her first shot, direct bull's-eye, and then performed some type of ballet spin, Alex couldn't recall the name, to the side that had her whipping her head around to zoom in and fire her next shot. Another bull's-eye. After another three of her spin and shoot routine, she simply dropped to the ground in a kneel and fired eight successive shots, with no hesitation nor pause in between them.

"10.8 seconds. You're rusty."

"Sorry, been staying off the radar for a while, no practicing and all."

Questions burned on Alex's and the men's tongues. But their pride burned stronger and they swallowed their curiosity to continue with the lesson, which the instructor hadn't waited for their full attention before he'd already begun.

BANG.

Alex fired, his shot was precariously close to the edge of the black circle. He grimaced, but not pausing for a moment and immediately began dismantling the gun. Done, he began assembling it again.

BANG.

Much closer to the middle. He allowed himself a smile. It was coming back to him, the rhythm and pattern of it. He was slightly taken aback that he found he had missed the feel of the gun in his hands. Blowing a strand of hair away from his face, he shot another time. Bull's-eye. Time to see how much Scorpia had taught him.

BANG.

He dismantled the gun for the last time and held up his hands, signifying he'd completed the task.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he could almost hear his heart beating at twice its normal rate. He looked around and spotted Sarah, who had moved to a slightly further away and was sparring with an imaginary opponent. She watched her drop on all fours then rolled twice, and pretend to shoot while mid roll each time.

He didn't know whether to be absolutely impressed or clutch his sides laughing. What did she think this was? Some Mission Impossible movie where a theme song would be played to spice up the action?

There was a sudden silence and he realized everyone had completed their hundred shots.

"Alright, gather here gents."

Despite his valiant attempts to sound like a stereotypical uptight, buff, macho instructor, Alex couldn't help but find him rather likeable.

"Anyone want to tell me how Fawn here beat all your asses at 35 minutes on the dot? And the fact that her aim is so bloody good, all I see on the card is a big fat hole through the centre where every single one of her bullets passed through?

"Cub came up third at 41.40, which means that everyone of you from all your damned units who ended up after him is a disgrace to this entire camp. Viper, not bad at 39.58." He acknowledged with a nod. "And you," and gestured with disgust to the man beside Viper. "51.10. Within the limit, but cutting it a hell close don't you think? Thankfully not one of you shot outside your target. Or everyone of you would be signed up for the wonders of kitchen duty tonight."

Alex saw Sarah flinch slightly at the reminder of the day's events.

"Alright, you're all dismissed. Surprisingly, you're on time for dinner. Get going gents."

There was a whoop in response to his second statement and the different units left almost as fast as bullets were being shot just moments ago.

Alex nodded at him, the way he would teachers back home. He saw Sarah do the same, with a small smile. He almost smiled back at her, before he remembered his supposed bad-ass instructor image, and managed to turn his smile into an awkward scowl before he turned away.

Alex couldn't suppress a small chuckle this time. Maybe not all SAS men were assholes.

Someone behind him cleared his or her throat extremely audibly, reminding Alex of his classmates' presences.

"Oh sir, can they go now."

"Sure,sure." He called, already halfway out the shooting area.

Alex rushed forward, helping Tom –who was groaning- up from where he had been sitting for the past 2 hours.

"Dude, you guys seriously sat there not moving at all?"

"Sir said to," his friend replied, wincing, allowing blood to flow through his limbs properly once again. "I still don't know how all of us squeezed into that shittingly small piece of land, but we did it."

"At least you all didn't have to go through that," Alex said, gesturing over his shoulder. He knew everyone was listening to their conversation, but he was beyond caring anymore. He'd squeeze every moment he had with Tom now, along with Jesse and Chris.

"Are you kidding me?" His friend stared. "That was easily one of the coolest thing I've ever seen. It was like FBI, CIA shit right there."

"We're English," but Alex smiled. "Its MI6."

"Urgh. Don't even say that word. How come we don't get to do cool stuff like this? They torture us for a couple hours then send us off to some weird secret location and we don't even get to shoot a gun."

"Yea!"

Everyone looked towards Aaron and he flushed, embarrassed not only at his outcry, but also at the sheer blatancy that he'd been eavesdropping on their conversation.

Jesse walked over and smacked Alex on the head, before forcefully hooking and arm around his shoulder. "Lucky bloody Bond aren't you." But he laughed.

Alex smiled again. He would miss this.

"Excuse me bloody Bond." The whole group of them turned towards Sarah, who was already at the far end of the shooting area. "If you're done catching up," she laughed, "the mess hall is already open and you better make your way there before the other units." Turning, she walked away, presumably towards the mess hall.

"Where the hell did she come from," Chris asked, recalling the show she'd put on for them.

Alex wished he could answer.

Dinner passed in the way time passes when you desperately want to hold on to every second of it. Alex knew that very soon he would have no one to laugh with or talk to without wondering if they have any ulterior motive to use him. In three days, he would have no choice but to let go of the last few people who kept him grounded to the normality of life. It was something he understood and accepted, yet he had that perplexing desire of it to either come immediately or never at all.

"Hello. Earth to Alex."

He was surprised to find his best friend waving a spoon in front of his face. "Sorry, I was out of it for a while."

"Thinking about how you'll miss us eh." Jesse nudged him, chuckling.

"Actually, yes." He said with a shrug, surprising himself with his sudden confession.

Tom patted his shoulder, and in one of his rare, brief moments of wisdom, said softly. "I know we'll probably never see you again, unless you appear on the tele shooting a goon or something. But we got three days, let's not waste time worrying about something that hasn't happened yet."

An awkward silence ensued, the way it always did after Tom said something unusually sensible. Chris broke it with a snicker. "You're still an annoying git though."

Their joy was short lived when the Sergeant appeared ten minutes later telling them they had twenty minutes before they were shut in their bunks and lights out. There was a violent scramble as everyone rushed to clear their trays and grab a much needed shower. His friends had left him their trays to clear, stating that with his previous training, he would probably be able to bathe twice as fast as them, plus no one would fight him for a shower.

Alex was quietly surprised again. Not at his classmates, but at the Sergeant's sudden generosity towards them. He had never been given twenty minutes for anything. Fifteen was already a blessing in the past. He must already be thinking of the day they were deported off. Or perhaps Blunt had said something to him. The memory of his recent conversation with Blunt had him irked again. Which reminded him; he glanced around, where was Sarah? She'd left first but he hadn't spotted her through the whole of dinner.

"Cub."

He turned towards the Sergeant who stood towering above him. He stood up and stepped away from his seat.

"Sir."

"Tomorrow you will begin your day with a 7 kilometer run at 0645 hours. Breakfast ends at 0800. Do the math. Seeing as your dear partner is completely inapt in terms of physical ability, both of you will be doing physical training with me after breakfast. Both of you will probably throw up. Do not do so on me. It will last until 1100 hours. Both of you will then attend a lecture at block C. I don't care what time you end, lunch here ends at 1415 hours. You then have an hour at the shooting area, which you are strongly advised to make use of. At 1530, I will personally drive you through the assault course until I find your timings adequate. Your classmates will follow you wherever you go and they will continue to sit silently in a corner until the three days are up. If I have to waste men babysitting them, let me assure you, you will pay. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Once the three days are over, you will continue beginning you training at 0645. However after 1700, your… _espionage_ training will begin. Someone else will be IC then."

Alex nodded. It would be worse after they left, he had expected that.

The sergeant seemed to hesitate, unsure of himself, then continued in a much more… human tone. "Both of you need to stick together, even if you don't want to. You've both been through a hell lot. Still, I won't go easy on either of you. Suck it up and survive." He nodded, content that he had said what needed to be said, and walked away, leaving Alex staring after him.

…~~~…~~~…

Sarah hauled the last tray of leftover meatloaf- at least she thought it was meatloaf- through the double doors that joined the mess hall to the kitchen.

"Okay, it's the last one guys."

"You go ahead and up your fill first darling," Joe, the person who ran the kitchens said. "we'll start on the dishes first."

"Kay," she knew it was absolutely ridiculous, but she felt her throat swell with emotion when he called her darling in that comforting, homey voice with that subtle southern twang to it. It had been too long since anyone had shown even an ounce of real affection for her. But she wouldn't cry, not one tear, ever.

Sitting on a grimy looking stool that look like it'd been last washed around the time she was born; she balanced the lukewarm tray of meat loaf on her lap and began digging in with a spoon. She watched the kitchen staff scrub the dishes and trays in a manner that was far from thorough and thought back to the first time she's stepped foot into this kitchen.

-Flashback-

"Well, lookie here. Who the little girl belong to?"

The chaos around the sinks stopped completely as everyone turned to stare at her. At barely 13, she was still closer to the girl she was than the woman she would become.

She stared up at the men that all wore the same uniform that had once been white a long, long time ago.

"It's my first day here," she said in a small voice, unsure of what to make of them. "I fell off the course too many times, so the Sergeant said I had to do kitchen duty today."

"Who you kidding darling? You just a bitty girl there, no way they make you do stuff like that."

"I have to." Was all she said.

"Well now." But he seemed lost for words.

"I'm Fawn, that's my name here."

"Well, well. Darling here got a code name and all. My name's Joe, little lady." He saw her flick her gaze to the leftovers from dinner that night, piled into a heap to be thrown away. "You hungry dear?"

She hesitated. "I didn't want to eat with my unit." She left it at that, not saying that when they weren't treating her like a baby, they were impossibly hostile to her.

Understanding lit his eyes, he wiped his hands on his apron-probably making it dirtier by doing so- and stretched out his hand. "Well then, why don't you come have something to eat."

She studied him for a moment, along with the men standing behind him. They didn't seem to hate her, yet. She reached out and placed her palm in his. "I have to do the dishes though."

"We'll worry about that later then."

-End flashback-

"Done."

Joe turned around, "Oh hell yea you finished everything." He had a hearty laugh that she found particularly endearing. "I knew our cooking was getting better. Right eh guys." This was met by several hoots.

"Thanks for letting me camp here during dinner times Joe. And for acting like a mean ass when other guys come around so they don't know this is my safe place here."

"Excuse me?" One of the men at the sinks yelled, "And what are we if not other guys?"

"Well now," she lathered on the southern brogue, "aren't y'all just lovely ladies there."

"And that's why I let you camp here," Joe replied, when the kitchen erupted in cheers and guffaws. "But jokes aside, that day you came here looking like a lost child with that horribly sad, yet so,so serious look in your eyes, I knew I'd have to look after you somehow eh." He stated somewhat awkwardly, patting her arm. "Anyway, get to the dishes missy, no slacking off in my kitchen."

**SO THERE IT IS. YOU. Yes, you who's reading. I would love to hear your opinion on the story. Tell me what you like/dislike please. I'll work on it(:**


	9. Go

**HEY EVERYONE(: I don't really have much to say actually. But today, I officially started Junior College! Wheeeeeee. It's been okay so far. I'm trying for dance, they're supposed to be really good. Wish me luck!**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. I loved writing it. Made me squeal and everything. As usual, I don't own anything and bla.**

**Enjoy~ And PLEASE. Every review makes. My. Day(:**

With a strangled cry, Alex dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

The Sergeant had left them in the plank position for almost ten minutes, with twenty pound weights on their back. Before that, they'd been made to endure shuttle runs between two points- with nine pound weights attached to each foot- forty meters apart, for forty minutes nonstop. It didn't sound like such an ordeal. But it was simply nonstop sprinting with the music of the Sergeant's voice coursing through the air. The countless pushups that followed did nothing to help either.

"Is the sky falling Cub?" The Sergeant stood directly in front of him.

He gritted his teeth and looked up from where he kneeled, "no sir."

"Well then get the hell back up. Even Fawn is holding out better than you, worthless dickless wimp."

Alex bit his lip, and forced himself back onto his elbows and contracted his abdominal muscles. The Sergeant didn't compare him to her when she was 5 laps behind him or a dozen of pushups short, did he, he thought bitterly to himself.

"I'm a dancer."

He tilted his head clockwise slightly to look at her, lying beside him. "What?" He managed to breathe.

"Dancers." She replied, her voice tight, revealing the strain she was feeling as well. "We need… really…" She took another shallow breath. "Strong abs."

He faced the ground beneath him again, his breaths quickly becoming more and more shallow as well. The ground was moist as always, and made up of more grit and dirt than actual soil. He focused on an insect that was navigating its way through the particles, trying to ignore the burning in his body.

"Alright, down."

Alex slowly replaced his elbow with his palms and pushed himself back, stretching, wincing.

"Enough rest babies, zig zag shuttle runs, let's go."

They were pushed to their physical limits and beyond. On their fiftieth lap, Sarah veered off course to the nearest tree and bent over, bracing her hands against her knees. Alex didn't stop, but he heard a sickening splattering sound as he sprinted past where she stood. He was about to call out encouragement when he felt that ominous wrench in his gut which told him he would be able to empathize with her very shortly. Biting his lips together, he quickly veered off their set path as she had and bent over as well. Clear liquid, probably stomach juices, flowed up from his esophagus out his mouth, leaving him with a disgusting acidic taste in his mouth. The sergeant spared them no sympathy and added another dozen laps to be completed once both of them had finished spewing out their insides.

Tom watched from where their group sat and winced in pity. The feelings of helplessness and not being able to suffer with his friend were almost as torturous as what Alex was going through.

Alex could feel the lactic acid building up in his muscles. There was no longer any pain, just a cold numbness that filled his entire body. His stubborn pride didn't allow him to drag his feet as he walked over to where the sergeant stood. But he sure as hell wanted to.

"Fawn, why the hell don't you just cut off all that hair and save yourself the trouble?"

Alex was wondering the same thing. She'd tied up her thick, straight hair at the nape of her neck and pinned up her bangs with two bobby pins. She didn't fuss with it, but it was true it would have been so much easier for her to chop it off. He didn't want to offend her, but she looked very far from the pretty thing he'd found her to be when he first saw her. Then again, he thought to himself, he very much doubted he looked anything like he normally did. He could feel his hair matted against his head, perspiration and grime clumping it together.

She shook her head, declining to say anything. But Alex swore he saw the muscles around her mouth tighten slightly. Not in anger, but something akin to bitterness.

The sergeant shrugged. "Both of you have black belts in taekwondo right now, which is almost sufficient for you to survive. For you to win, you need one or two other forms of martial arts. Normally, it takes people at least five years to attain a black belt in aikido." He paused. "You two are going to attain it in two years or die trying. Understood?" He waited for affirmative replies, then continued. "Wushu will also be added into your training. It might seem like a sissy Chinese thing. But it can be extremely beneficial in fights, especially when your opponent is physically stronger than you. You use their strength against them and win. Fawn, your style of using… dance in combat," he sneered at the word dance, obviously not approving of her unusual choice, "while completely ridiculous looking, has kept you alive so far. You'll be given half an hour to practice that on your own during physical training. Cub here, will be with me in the mean while."

They broke off into their respective pair and individual training arrangement.

"Today," the sergeant smiled widely, more sadistic than humorous, "you will be learning how to fall properly."

There were three wooden walls in the training area. One was just slightly higher than Alex, another was about two and a half meters tall. The last was about three and a half meters tall. These walls were constructed simply, with wooden planks providing little or no hand or foot holes.

"Climb." The sergeant gestured to the shortest one.

Alex climbed.

"Drop."

He pushed himself off the top of the wall and landed lightly on the balls of his feet.

"Not bad. But that's for the short wall. For the next few weeks I'll be drilling you in the basics of parkour."

"Free running?" Alex raised his brows, surprised to find the sport that a few of his peers were crazy about in a military training itinerary.

"It might seem like a sport, all fun and games. But we have recently discovered its uses, especially in the special forces when we never know what kind of terrains we will need to work with. You would need this skill to survive as well. What I teach you now, you will drill Fawn later. While I go back to my office for warmth and a rich cup of coffee." There was the heartless smile again.

It was indeed freezing. Alex had gotten used to the cold temperatures quickly. But a few of his peers were already coming down with flues and slight fevers. The thin, tattered blankets they were giving did nothing to help, and sleeping in their thickest clothing did nothing much to help keep the chill away as most of them hadn't expected the temperatures to be so low, thus not bring much warm clothing.

For the next half hour, Alex lost himself in a blur of climbing, falling and gathering all his nerve and willpower to get back up to repeat the cycle again.

A small part of him knew that whatever he was learning extremely beneficial. How many times had he been cornered by his enemies because of a jump he knew was too far below for him to manage?

However that small part was overshadowed by the larger part of him that was exceptionally aware of the numerous bruises his body was collecting.

He flipped, rolled, bounced and winced through the half hour, which seemed a lot longer than a normal half an hour should feel.

"Alright Cub, get Fawn back. Be sure to report to the lecture on time."

"Yes sir."

Alex turned and spotted Sarah. He smiled. He knew it was small of him, and appallingly evil. But it was true, what they said. Those who get abused really did feel better abusing others.

…~~~…~~~…

"That wasn't bad for your first attempt at free running Alex, really. But what you need to do to really get your technique right is…"

Alex appreciated Dash's desire to help him with his training. But after being hounded by him incessantly on the ways to improve his technique, Alex found he really wouldn't have minded another round with the sergeant one on one. At least the sergeant didn't use an unnervingly over enthusiastic tone.

Tom and Jesse sat flanking him, their stuffing their faces with broccoli and overcooked pork, trying to hide their mirth at Alex's overly helpful fan. Chris sat opposite him, his expression getting darker with each passing moment as he tried and failed to tune out the wonders of the techniques of parkour being sprouted by Dash who had plopped himself beside him.

"Sorry," Alex interrupted him. "But I have to…" He spotted Sarah eating alone at a table further off. Not quite outside of their group, but not completely part of it as well. "Discuss some stuff with Sarah. Top secret you know," stepping on Tom and Jesse's feet when they snickered. "Maybe you can tell Tom and Jesse the _in-depth _information you think I need. I'm sure they'll pass it on to me."

Alex felt them stiffen and slump in defeat. Smirking on the inside, he stood up and picked up his tray before making his way over to her.

"Hi."

"Hi," she looked up and smiled at him. She was already done with her lunch.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"To escape from the wonders of parkour? I'd never deny anyone that relief."

Alex sat opposite her. "You're done fast," he commented, as he shoveled a fork full of broccoli into his mouth.

"I was brought up that way. Since I was old enough to eat independently, my mom would take my plate from me within three minutes, whether I was done or not."

Alex continued chewing, adverting his gaze, looking at the table.

"You're wondering what's my story."

He nodded once, knowing that if she asked, she would be wondering what his story was too.

"And I'm wondering about yours. But you probably guessed that I'm wondering already." She laughed. "I'm sorry I pretended not to know anything about SAS. I didn't know if I was supposed to reveal my back ground."

"I would have done the same."

"Would you rather wait to talk? Or you want to do it tonight."

Alex knew she was giving him a chance to spend as much time as possible with his friends before they were gone for good. But then once they left, their schedule would be packed.

"Tonight." He decided.

"Alright."

They fell into a companionable silence while he ate.

"I've got bruises on top of bruises." She decided to say. "And I won't accuse you, because you'll deny it. But I swear you looked like you were enjoying seeing me fall just the way you did."

Alex masked his smile with another mouth of pork chop.

…~~~…~~~…

"FASTER. GET UP YOU DICKLESS WIMP."

Dickless wimp seemed to be the sergeant's new nickname for him, Alex noted, gritting his teeth and pulling himself up.

The assault course had had major modifications. It was definitely larger than the last time Alex had visited. More ropes, swaying bridges, rough walls and slime pits had been added.

There was a particularly nasty rope bridge smack in the middle of the assault course that Alex kept getting stuck at. Uneven pieces of wood held up by uneven pieces of rope dangling at uneven intervals across a wide stretch of open air. You miss a step, didn't jump far enough or slipped, and you landed five meters below in thick, foul smelling slime. Alex hadn't fallen yet, but he had several close calls. Any closer and he would have closely resembled the boogey man while continuing the course.

Alex's main weakness was his lack of balance on unsteady objects. Years of taekwondo training had giving him a strong sense of his center of balance… on ground. In the air, it was a different matter. That one time attempt at tightrope walking had been sheer luck. Here, it all boiled down to skill. What he lacked for in balance, he made up for in strength, using his arms and hands to grab hold of whatever he could use to steady himself. However that was quickly depleting his strength and even his stamina wasn't that good.

Sarah had a brilliant sense of balance, due to her dance background. And though her upper body strength was adequate, she had little stamina. What she lacked in physical strength, she made up for in flexibility. Several walls that normally would require one to use their biceps to pull themselves up, she simply needed to take a running leap and grab hold of the edge, before swinging her foot up, at an almost 180 degree angle, to land on the edge as well, using the strength of all three limbs combined to make her climbing task easier. But all the flexibility in the world didn't help her with the dangling ropes she had to climb.

"17 minutes 23 seconds." The sergeant barked. "Am I mistaken or is that worse than your previous timings before?"

Alex said nothing, knowing talking back wouldn't help him.

"And you, 22 minutes. What kind of disgrace are you?"

"Go again. This time together. If you get back within 10 minutes, congratulations, its dinner time. If not, Fawn you can give me a hundred pushups and forty pull ups. Cub you can continue back and forth on that blasted bridge until she's done. Ready. Go."

The sprinted towards the start of the course even before the sergeant had said go, predicting he would try to squeeze in extra seconds to their timing.

They made it across the first three walls easily, beginning the strenuous rope climb at the same time. Alex saw her struggling and not breaking pace, called out "position the rope between your feet closer to the arch, watch mine." She glanced up at him and understood, changing her position ever so slightly and found that it did wonders to lessen the burden on her biceps. Alex reached to top first and reached down to haul her up. She was almost there and let go of the rope with both hands, propelling herself up with her feet. He caught her, their wrist to wrist, and swung her up over the edge.

They both saved their breath, wasting no words and continued on.

They reached the sad imitation of monkey bars made of thick steel rods that were hard to grip due to their width and were placed impossibly far away from each other. He had been spending a large portion of his time at that section. Quickly, he studied the structure surrounding it. He got an idea. He glanced at Sarah and found her staring at the structure as well. She turned to him and smiled.

She took five steps back as he kneeled and brought his hands together, palms up resting on his knee. She ran, three large strides and her left foot landed square in his palms. He pushed up as she jumped. She flew, Alex couldn't think of a better word, and grabbed onto the left pole that joined the parallel rods together. Flipping around, she hooked the back of her knees on the rod and swung upside down, reaching for Alex. He jumped, grabbing her hand, wrist to wrist again as she swung him side to side. On the third swing, he used the momentum and his abdominal muscles, arching his body sideways, kicking up and hooking his right knee on the right pole. They swung themselves up and righted themselves, standing at the same time. They reached up, grabbing the random bits of infrastructure that held the course together and begin walking on the top of the monkey bars. Reaching the end, they put their new parkour skills to good use and front flipped down. It wasn't especially high and they landed easily. The whole sequence lasted less than thirty seconds.

After much crawling, jumping and sprinting, they arrived at the rope bridge. Sarah noticed him hesitate. "Contract your abs, but don't try to over balance." She took the first step, kept moving, calling out advice at the same time. "First step forward, you'll swing forward. Use the momentum, the next step you take, just swing. Lock your knees. Don't stop. Just go."

Alex took a breath and took his first step. The next… the next…

He stepped off the last swinging piece of hell and stepped onto glorious, solid land.

Sarah was already scaling the genuine rock wall. But Alex had a longer reach and he caught up with her quickly.

The next main obstacle was basically random wooden trunks placed across a pool of slime.

Don't think. Alex told himself. They were only a quarter of a way through when he heard a sharp intake of breath. He turned in time to see Sarah lose her balance. Instinctively, he shot out his hands to steady her. They grabbed onto each other in the same manner, wrist to wrist. But it was too late. At the last moment, as she realized there was no way to regain her balance, she leapt off the circular piece of wood she was standing on and landed on the next closest piece.

Alex felt himself wobble and made a split second decision.

Keeping his hands locked on hers, he used the force she had transferred to him through their linked arms and leapt to the next wood piece.

She was thrown off balance again and with her hand still in his, leapt to the next piece.

Keeping this rhythm, they crossed the area without another glitch.

They leapt off their last stepping wooden block together.

Alex turned to look at her as they were mid jump, and was stunned by the look of joy on her face.

They landed together.

They didn't wait for each other, trusting the other to keep up.

After more crawling, jumping and sprinting, they spotted the final wall up ahead.

Sarah put in a final burst of speed and took Alex's previous position, kneeling at the base of the wall.

Alex almost laughed. He ran, his left foot similarly landing on her open palm and jumping as she pushed. He drew up his knees to his chest and managed to land just on the edge. Still in his squat position, he spun, 180 degrees and dropped, lying down, the middle of his chest on the edge of the platform.

He reached down and she grabbed his hands in that now familiar wrist to wrist style, for the fourth time. She kicked off the ground with her left foot and, in an action almost like running, planted her right foot against the wall. Alex rolled onto his back, flipping his arms at the same time. Sarah's left foot just managed to land over the edge of the wall and she pulled herself up, using the drive Alex provided her and flipped onto her back as well.

They lay there for a moment, basking in the feeling of accomplishment and success, catching their breath.

Their hands were still linked, drawn over their heads as they merely lay there. Both secretly liked the feel of that intimate connection of comradeship. And that quiet spark that might possibly grow into something more. Both would never admit it.

The sergeant appeared over them. "10 minutes 3 seconds."

Sarah looked at him and he stared back, waiting for her to cuss or groan. She surprised him by doing neither and, instead, closing her eyes and smiling softly to herself in contentment.

"What are you waiting for? Get going."

Alex let go of her hands and, without a look back, walked outside of the course and only made his way in at the bridge. He knew he could beat it now.

Sarah flipped onto her front and began her pushups.

The sergeant walked off, away from the group of kids watching him, confident those two would follow his orders to a T. He glanced down at his watch, stopped at 09:56. He pressed a button and the screen returned to 00:00. They needed the practice anyway.

Looking around, certain no one could see him, he smiled. That was the most peaceful he'd ever seen Fawn.

**Yes. I beg. PLEASE review. Tell me what you liked/didn't like/wanna see. PLEASE(:**


	10. Understanding

**Hey wonderful readers(: first week of junior college was cool. Really interested to experience lectures and stuff.**

**Anyways, normal disclaimer. I don't anything(:**

**Enjoy~**

Alex walked over to where Sarah lay on the ground, below the pull up bars, where she had let herself fall right after completing her fortieth pull up.

"You alive?"

There was a moan in response, which he decided was safe to interpret as a yes.

"Are you going to run off before dinner again?"

"Later. Now. Can't. Even. Move."

"So you don't want to meet tonight?"

"I never said that."

Alex smiled. "So, how are we going to then?"

"I'll be in the kitchens until late. Dishes." She explained. "Look for me there when you're done bathing and talking to your friends."

"Do you need help up?"

There was another moan, which he took as a yes again.

He kneeled beside her and took her hand in his, tugging slightly. She stilled, then shook him off lightly, and got to her feet herself. She smiled at him, but there was something different about it, it wasn't the same as when they were on the course. He almost asked her, but he stopped himself. There would be time later.

"Will we get into trouble if they catch us out late?"

Alex thought of his conversation with Blunt.

"No, highly doubt so."

"See you then." She turned and walked off. It took every ounce of pride and willpower not to limp, hobble or moan again.

…~~~…~~~…

"You realize every guy here is insanely jealous of you right, mate?"

Alex glanced up at Tom who was sitting opposite him.

"Why?"

"Why?" He gapped at his friend. "That assault course was one of the coolest things I've ever seen you do mate. You didn't see the way the girls were drooling over you. I could literally feel them being turned on and letting their hormones giving them some wild, crazed fantasy about you. Involving you, them, the assault course and whips."

Alex paused, spoon midway to his mouth. "I don't know if I want to know, but how do you know that exactly? You're not…"

Tom blinked, taking a while to process the unasked questions. "What? What. NO! Oh man. Stacey and her group were thinking out loud you sicko. I'm straight. You hear?" He reached over and punched Alex on the shoulder, a little harder than strictly necessary, as if to prove his point. "I just need a little more time on Celine that's all." He tone turned sour. Alex caught Jesse's eye. They both adverted their gazes before they laughed out loud.

"But I have to say Alex," Chris added, "the way you worked with Sarah was pretty damn slick."

Jesse included a helpful "Yar" through a mouthful of half chewed chicken.

He shrugged. "Luck?"

"More like incredible chemistry."

All three boys watched their friend squirm in embarrassment.

"It just happened, that's all."

"Sure."

Alex knew sarcasm when he heard it.

…~~~…~~~…

Alex stepped back from the shower head he was under and slicked his hair back. It felt fantastic to be clean again.

"You done mate?"

"Yea, I am." Alex moved further back in the cramped shower area and rubbed his towel over his head then chest. The adrenaline rush was completely gone and he was already feeling the aches that would build in the night as he slept and cause him agony the next morning.

He walked over to the locker areas as he wrapped the towel around his waist. Quickly, he ran his fingers lightly over his abs. It was narcissistic of him, but there was a small part of him -that he would probably never ever reveal to anyone- that looked forward to what the excessive training would do to his body.

With quick, efficient movements, he dressed, tugging on his boxes, trousers and then shirt.

"You think they'll make us go to sleep at lights out?"

Alex glanced over to where Tom was squatting, tying his laces. "I doubt so. The way Blunt made it seem, they don't want the men wasting their training time looking after us. As long as we keep a low profile, they shouldn't bother us. In their minds, you guys are already gone."

"Cool. Wanna play cards? They never did scan the small bags the girls brought. Apparently some of them sneaked in poker cards. Celine offered to loan us guys her set tonight, thanks to my amazing charm and skills of persuasion." He winked.

"Can't. I'm going to meet Sarah after this." He quickly continued, before his friend began his normal exaggerated speculations. "We're going to talk. Just talk."

"Sure."

Alex recognized the sarcasm there too.

…~~~…~~~…

It was an abnormally clear night and the half moon provided him just enough light to navigate his way to the back area of the mess hall, where to kitchens were.

His boots made a soft crunching noise against the gravel in time to his leisurely steps which he found rather therapeutic. It had been days since he had had a bit of quiet to himself. It wasn't long before the sounds of voices were mixed with the sound of his footsteps. He sighed softly; it was nice was it lasted.

Spotting the kitchens up ahead, he quickened his pace. But when he stood at the back door of the kitchens, he found himself at a loss. Should he knock? Call out? Just go in?

He raised his fist, about to knock, when the door swung open.

"You're a bit late for kitchen duty there son." He was at least a foot taller than Alex, with thick dark brown curls on his head and face. He frowned, creases forming in his weathered face.

"Sorry, I'm just looking for-"

"Hey Joe! Everything alright there?" A recognizable voice called out.

'Fawn." Alex finished, when she appeared at the door way.

"Oh! Hey... Cub." She grinned.

"You know this boy?" The man, Joe, laid a hand on her shoulder, angling her slightly behind him. Alex knew that tone. It was the tone fathers used when they realized their baby girls weren't baby girls anymore, and when boys started looking.

"We're going to be working together from now on apparently, like a unit with our own bunk and everything."

"Your own bunk?" His tone was incredulous.

Alex could tell he'd taken an immediate dislike to him. Her comments hadn't helped either. When he caught the grin she sent him, he realized she had said it on purpose, to make sure this man gave him a hard time.

"We were given orders to do so, sir." He explained, hoping the 'sir' wasn't going to be overkill.

Joe said nothing, simply pursing his lips and continuing to stare at Alex.

Sarah cleared her throat, ducking her head slightly to hide her smile. "All right, all right. He's a friend of mine Joe. He's alright," she smiled at him, guilty. "I'm done with my share of the dishes, so I'm going to go okay? Okay, Joe?" She asked again when he didn't respond.

"No messing around little lady, you hear me?"

"Yes sir." The smirked at each other.

"Sorry about that, I couldn't resist." She apologized when Joe had gone back in and closed the door.

"Where do you want to go?"

She noted he avoided acknowledging her apology. "We can camp at the bunks where they sleep in for a while." She replied, gesturing over her shoulder, referring to the men in the kitchen. "They normally don't go back so early, and security is less there."

Alex didn't ask how she knew so much; his questions would probably be answered later. Sarah watched him from the corner of her eye. His shoulders and mouth were relaxed, not tense like when he got pissed off on the few occasions that she had seen him irked. She was definitely forgiven.

She longed to hold his hand, missing that connection they had at the course. Don't, she warned herself.

"Just up ahead," she sped up slightly.

The bunks were similar to what they were assigned to, at least from the outside. There were a few short stools scattered around the area, for when the men wanted a quick smoke or chat. They picked two and sat down. There was a short moment of silence. Neither wanted to begin first. Alex glanced at her, sitting opposite him and watched her give him an expression that clearly stated 'go on, be a man and do it'.

"Fine, fine. I'll start."

"Wait."

He paused, watching her expectantly.

"I know we have to trust each other. There's no other way we're going to work together if we don't. But I've never told anyone my…stories." She struggled, finding the right words to say. "Telling you what I'm going to and listening to what you've most likely never told many or even anyone before… It feels wrong to me. Yet I know I have to. The way MI6 planned it, we're probably going to be working together till we die, seeing as we're almost certainly going to die rather young. But in the case we ever stop working with each other, or start working for different sides. I'm sorry, but I'll very likely kill you." She stated plainly.

He brought her to the beginning; the day he found out his uncle had died. It made him slightly stunned that he found he had missed his uncle more than he realized. He described his first day at training, how he was bullied. He took her through the horror and anxiety of his first mission with the Stormbreakers, facing off with Herod Sayle with nothing but a few gadgets and his wits. He told her of the deaths he'd seen and the deaths he'd caused indirectly. He hesitated, just a moment, before telling her about his relation to Yassen Gregovovich, and how he met him for the first time. He moved on to Point Blanc, then Skeleton Key and the CIA. He thought he saw something akin to irritation flash in her eyes when he mentioned Sabina Pleasure. Eagle Strike, the fiasco with Scorpia, Ark Angel. He told her of his godfather, Ash and his betrayal with Snakehead. He explained Desmond McCain's plans, how he foiled it.

"That's it."

"For now."

"For now," he agreed.

She studied him for a moment, biting her lip.

"Just remember what I said earlier." She warned, and watched him nod once.

"My story began when I was born." Her voice took on a deadpan quality, as if she were recounting someone else's life. "My mom was an MI6 agent. She was mixed blood herself, Chinese and English together. Passed the look on to me. My dad was a normal civilian, English. According to her, they didn't last very long together. He knew she was involved in some sort of secret service, but she never told him how deep in she was. He got sick and tired of her running off every now and then and returning with bruises and scars.

"He just packed up his things and left one day, their lawyers communicated for them afterwards. She found out she had me after he left her. So I was born, and she took three years off to raise me. She considered retiring, getting a proper job, raising me. But during those three years, there were five assassination attempts made on us. Mind you, we were at a supposedly secure location provided by MI6.

"After the last assassination attempt, she made up her mind. If she couldn't build us a life outside the mess of espionage, she'd do it within the mess. That day on, I was given three minutes a day for meals. I've told you before right? Bath times were limited to five minutes. She started home schooling me, teaching me English, Mandarin, Italian, Japanese and Russian. It might seem like a lot," she commented, noticing Alex's slightly horrified expression. "But when you're a child, living with no one but your mother, you think the world of her. You'd do anything she says.

"She invested the first year solely on languages, as they would be most beneficial to me. She made me do spilts, sit ups, simple physical training as well. The next year, we continued with my training, adding on basic math and science.

"I was only three and it was all just a game to me. I didn't know I was supposed to hate studying or the exercises she made me do. I didn't have anyone as a role model to what my behaviour or attitudes should be like, I only had my mother. I'm pretty smart now, and I can memorise information quickly, my photographic memory is pretty much honed to near perfection. People might think I was born talented and lucky. But it's really just the hell my mom put me through. Children that age actually have amazing learning capabilities. Adults just spoil them when they're young.

"This continued for two years. When I was five, I attended my first taekwondo class. The master made me spar with a red belt the first time I ever stepped onto the sparring mat. In three seconds, I was flipped over the guy's shoulder and slammed onto the ground, back first. Being five, I bawled my eyes out." She laughed, without a hint of humour. "I remember looking around for my mom and spotting her at the edge of the mats. I couldn't get up, it was too damn painful, so I tried to crawl. My master picked me up by, grabbing the back of my Dubok. He shoved me into the toilet and stood outside. He told me to stare at myself in the mirror until I stopped crying. Will crying make you stronger? He kept shouting, over and over…

"So anyway I continued my training. Half a year later, I started ballet lessons. The two teaches you completely different things you know. How to hold yourself, how to move, everything. But I had to, it sucked but I managed somehow. Another half a year later, acting classes were added as well.

"When I was eight, I went on my first mission with my mom. It seemed so real to me at that time, but I was later told it was a mock that MI6 prepared to test me. I did so well. I remembered our fake IDs and everything, until the last moment. It's a long story so I won't go into it. The 'bad guy' held her captive and it all went downhill from there. I was given one job to do, and that was hide the disk which kept information on nuclear weapons. Adults rarely think like children, he most likely wouldn't have guessed my hiding place. He told me I had to give it to him to get my mom back. I did it. There was a shoot out as she tried to stop me. She tossed me a gun and told me to protect myself. I didn't know how the hell to use it. She still managed to get both of us out. If it was a real mission, with guns shooting real bullets instead of blanks, we would both have died.

"That night, my training in artillery began. I learnt to assemble guns, shoot from every position and the best ways to move in order to avoid getting shot. Most guns were too heavy for me to handle, but I had to anyway. Kids that age were playing with Barbie dolls now I think about it, and jump rope. I spent my days playing with guns, darts and knives. That's why I'm so good by the way. I've been practising forever."

She wavered a moment.

"You know, seeing as I'm telling you so much, I might as well tell you every sob story I haven't told anyone.

"The first time I learnt how to assemble and shoot a gun, it was just a small dart gun. Easier for me to handle. I didn't fully grasp the feel of it yet and I ended shooting a bloody dart into my foot. My mom heard me yell and rushed over. She extracted the dart from my foot and walked off, telling me not to worry, it hadn't hit a major nerve or artery. I was eight. I was eight and my mom walked away from me as I sat there clutching my bleeding foot.

"In another two months, they prepared another mock mission for me. It was a success. A standard get in, get information and get out situation. But they realised the problem with me was I didn't laugh enough. I didn't understand humour or the jokes kids my age found funny.

"Now I look back, it's the most hilarious thing in the world. Scientists at MI6 actually compiled different television programmes for me to watch and learn. The videos they gave me were played at double speed, to save me time.

"A month later, I had another mock mission with my mom. Another success. We were sent on three mock missions. The last one, we had to escape with a vial containing some weird chemical. We were almost out of the facility my mom was pretending to be working as. But there were four guards blocking our way to the jeep we needed to steal. My mom shot one. Blank of course, but the effects they put in place were unbelievably real.

"The other two moved in to restrain her, the last one came to me. He dropped his gun. That was his mistake. I actually managed to knock that full grown man out. When I was done with him, I turn to look for my mom. She and the guard she hadn't managed to knock out were stuck in a Mexican standoff, their guns against each other's temples. I emptied whatever bullets I thought I had into him. My mom and I got away. We won."

Alex sat there, listening to her recount her experiences with an emotion just short of horror. He kept his face straight, not willing to ask her to stop, even though he wanted to.

"In another two months, we got sent on out first real mission together. I might seem like all I did was act as a cover for my mom. But I was pretty damn good at espionage by then. No one really looks at teenagers in restricted areas. But absolutely no one would have looked at me back then.

"Nuclear weapons, the mafia, black-market, drug scene, biochemical weapons. You name it; we came across it when we were working together.

"There was one particular mission though. When I was twelve. My mom was working as a secretary to this man who was selling illegal warfare items…

Alex waited silently, wondering what else could be next.

"She was MI6's slut during that time, if you want to put it crudely. To be honest, in order for her roles to be believable, sometimes she had to…"

"I get it."

She nodded. "Anyway, this guy had a son. He'd inherited his father's playboy, perverted nature apparently. If you read the physical check up reports done after that mission, it states that I was repeatedly forced into sexual intercourse. In the mission reports, it states that I was a willing party and my sacrifice was necessary in order for the mission to progress and succeed…

"The first night he raped me. I ran to my mother's room after he left. It was the only time since I was five that I cried. Really. I swear. I never cried before that." She emphasized, as if afraid he wouldn't believe her. The look on her face at that moment broke his heart. For the girl four years ago, and for the girl-woman- sitting in front of him. Then he blinked and it was gone. She continued in that monotonous voice.

"She looked at me and asked me if he used a condom. I said no and she passed me a few, along with a pregnancy prevention pill. Then she asked me to go back to my room. After that mission, we went for a tubal ligation together, in case situations occurred again in the future. It's not so bad I guess. I don't think I'll ever be able to settle down, and I would kill myself before I put another child through what I went through.

"After that, it was a quiet year. We weren't assigned anything. When I was thirteen, we went on another mission, as mother and daughter again. America this time. Bottom line? I managed to get out, she got held captive. The CIA and MI6 were having a field day. All the bureaucratic nonsense while the people we infiltrated held her captive.

"During that time, I was sent here. Normally girls are never allowed here. But seeing how much service I'd given to MI6, they pulled some strings and I got sent here. Survived by sticking with the kitchen staff.

"A month or so later, I got pulled out. They were organising a search and rescue for my mom. Normally they'd leave her to die, but she was holding onto some pretty important documents they needed as evidence. No one knew the environment and people there like I did. So I went with my unit. That included Panther at that time.

"We got to the place and it was smooth sailing until some dumbass from their side sounded the alarm. Suddenly everyone was shooting and us getting out was a priority. I knew where my mom was being held captive; we'd intercepted their calls and found out. It wasn't far from where we were. I wanted to go get her, but Panther stopped me. 'It's over. She's gone.' I still remember his words. When I asked him how he knew, he said he'd seen her body when he scouted ahead before us. I didn't trust him, but bullets were flying and wood was flying, blinding everyone. Even after everything she put me through, I still loved her. She was my mom wasn't she? I tried to get through the chaos. But no one from the unit would cover me, it would have been suicide.

"We managed to get out, three bullets had grazed me. My right arm, left leg and lower torso. But I was still alright. We got into our getaway helicopter as a unit. Orders from above was to blow the place if I couldn't get my mom back. The worst part was, I was the one the press the button for the place to blow. My leader said do it, and I did. We were about four hundred meters in the air by then. I looked out the window, and there my mom was, still in the clothes I'd last seen her in, sprinting out of the building. I knew in my heart it was too late but I screamed, sobbing for us to turn back, go back down to get her. Two members of the unit had to restrain me. I watched as the flames erupted out of the place and engulfed her.

"After that, MI6 put me into hiding. They introduced your history teacher to me. He knew what you were by the way; MI6 wanted someone to keep an eye on you. I stayed with him for a while, keeping it quiet, low key. I didn't get to train much. No access to guns or people to spar with. He got me transferred into your school, pulled strings so I would get into your class.

"I know what they want, having us in the same class, bunk and stuff. I'm not stupid. And unless you are, you'll know what they want to.

"So yea. That's my story. For now."

What did you do when someone laid out their entire life before you? Alex thought. She sat there watching him wearily.

"Do you dream of them?" The question burst out of him. "The people that you kill."

She thought about it for a moment. "Based on your experiences, I don't think you've killed anyone directly before. With a bullet to the brain or a slit throat or the likes. I have. Their faces haunt me. Even while I'm awake, even now."

Alex nodded. He understood, to a certain extent.

"Blunt always made it seem like I was the only one," he said.

"He made it seem that way to me too. We can never trust them I guess, can we?"

The night had progressed quickly, glancing up, the moon was already beginning its descent down.

"You want to go back now?" She asked. "The guys are probably going to come back soon too."

"Alright." He stood as she did, and they started towards their bunks.

The quiet stillness of the night was a welcome relief from the nightmares that were being recounted. Alex didn't know how to respond to what he'd learnt. For the first time in his life, he felt like taking the initiative to touch someone in some way; hold her hand or touch her shoulder. Something.

With Sabina, it had always been her who kissed him, her who took his hand. He'd been amiable towards it. But now, unexpectedly, he understood the desperation for that simple physical contact to assure him. Yet he himself didn't know what he wanted assurance for. That what he'd just said and heard was real? Or that he would be able to watch over her from now on.

"You still have you work with me," she said in a small voice. "Even if you think I'm disgusting."

Alex jerked, stopping in his tracks. Something inside him hurt for her.

"You aren't disgusting."

She searched his eyes, looking for any sign of insincerity.

"Isn't it funny," she continued walking and he hurried to catch up. "That even people like us, with all the abnormal lifestyles and experience and espionage, still need reassurance once in a while?"

…~~~…~~~…

"Good night, Alex. " She said, starting to veer off onto the path that led to her bunk.

"Wait." He grabbed her hand.

"It's a bit much to take in and comprehend right now, but-"He faltered, and then tugged on her arm gently, intending to draw her in and embrace her. But she froze, pulling back.

Looking away, she spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "It's late and we're both feeling emotional now. I already said, I don't trust easily. Thank you for telling me so much tonight. I'll be thinking about it. Good night Alex," she repeated.

He lowered his arm, nodding slowly. "I understand. Good night." He turned and headed towards his bunk.

Five steps later, he felt two hands tug on the back of his shirt softly. He paused, as the owner of the two hands pressed herself against his back. She didn't hug him, didn't embrace him, she just leaned in, trembling slightly, in a movement that was so poignant and tender, with much more emotion conveyed than a normal hug could ever hope to achieve.

Then the moment was gone. And they both made their way towards their respective bunks without another glance back.

**I'm ending this story really soon. It's not receiving as much attention as I hoped for, and it's obviously not good enough for many people to comment on/: **

**I was considering making this story into a long one with different sagas and stuff. But I don't think it's worth the effort since not many people appreciate it. Was playing with an idea about the mafia and stuff tho! Placed in sunny, exotic Singapore(:**

**But. Thanks for reading all the way! Review if you can(:**


	11. Closing an old chapter

**Hello my precious...es? ****This is gonna be the second last chapter of this short series(: I'll wrap it up by the next chapter! Promise! Cross my heart and all that jazz. I'm planning on a continuation(: with murder, politics, betrayal, the government, the mafia, freaking hot Alex & Sarah and sexy scenes(; (hopefully it wont be the standard cliched story) So this sets up the future series! But it depends on the response I get; don't wanna waste my time and effort on something people won't like(:**

**Anyway, enjoy~**

"That's my underwear you git!"

"Oi, you pass me that sock."

"Buggering hell, anyone see my glasses?"

"SHIT hurry up mates, they're gonna leave without us. I'm leaving without you guys if you're late. You can rot in this hell without me."

There was pandemonium in the guys' bunks as they rushed to finish packing.

The three days were up and there were two lorries coming to pick up Alex's classmates anytime now. They should have packed the night before, but being boys, they procrastinated until the next morning.

Alex sat on his miserable mattress, leaning against the metal bed frame, watching his friends scramble with a detached amusement. Tom sat on his bed, beside Alex's, watching them as well, grinning.

"They should have listened to you last night mate. Lucky I did."

Alex glanced over. "Tom, I packed for you."

His friend shrugged, "so? That's what friends are for right?"

Alex turned back when Chris and Jesse plopped themselves on the edge of his mattress. The metal frame groaned portentously. Alex worried for a moment how much weight the flimsy thing could take.

"We're done too, no thanks to both of you."

"I told you two to pack last night."

"Yea, gits."

Alex glanced over again. "You really have no right to say anything." But he smiled.

"FOUND IT." Aaron held up his briefs in triumph after finally finding it under Dash's pillow.

All four of them fell silent, not moving.

"Hey, Alex? Why do you think it was under-"

"You know what Jesse; I honestly don't even want to know."

…~~~…~~~…

Just a little further down the hill, excited chatter filled the girls' bunk. The girls sat on the edge of their bunks, bags packed and placed under their beds.

"Where do you think they're taking us?"

"I don't know. But anywhere has to be better than this place."

"I wonder if they'll get some secret service people to guard us."

"Oooh, I hope we get really cutes ones."

"Oh please, I like my men rugged and buff thank you very much."

Giggles erupted at that comment and more conversation sparked off from there.

Sarah sighed, hugging her bag that she had packed the night before, like the other girls. She wouldn't miss the chatter and noise, that was for sure. Solitude and quiet had always been her preferred choice over company. She wondered what it would be like to stay in the same bunk as Alex. Her mind flashed to her evident lack of self control 2 nights before. He hadn't said anything to her about it, and she was grateful for that. But she feared what would happen between them if they kept working in such close proximity.

They had continued their training in the same manner as the first day. She had treasured every chance for physical contact between them since that night, especially on the assault course. Despite the exhaustion and pain, she wouldn't change it one bit.

"Sarah?"

She looked up, "oh, hey Chelsea, what's up?"

The girl hesitated a moment. "Nothing, I just want to say all the best kay. I'm sorry you have to stay here. The training you have seems really crazy."

Chelsea was always one of the more sensible girls in the class. A little quiet perhaps, but that made her best wishes just a bit more special to Sarah.

"Thank you." And in the way of girls, they hugged.

"I'll just go check if I left anything behind," she said awkwardly, walking away.

Sarah sat again and wished for a window she could look out. She wondered what Alex was doing.

A loud horn interrupted her train of thought.

The squeals emitted by the girls actually managed to drown out the sound of the horn.

"Z'oh my GOSH! Whoo! It's here let's go!"

Despite having everything already packed, they took a tremendous amount of time to vacate the bunks, double and triple checking that they'd brought everything. The group of them fluttered around in the small bunk, looking for things that were already packed. Sarah watched them from the door way, her bag already slung over her shoulder. Years of training had taken away her need to fidget when irked, that wouldn't stop her from ripping out the spines of every girl present though.

"Hey guys, you don't leave now, the trucks will just leave without you."

They were out in under a minute.

…~~~…~~~…

"That's probably the trucks," Alex commented when he heard the horn.

The chaos had just ceased and majority of the boys had just managed to finish packing. They filed out of their bunks without any fuss and in a surprisingly orderly fashion. They arrived at the rendezvous area just as the girls did, owing to the fact that the girls' bunks were much closer.

"Come on lads," the driver of the first truck stuck his head out the window. "We haven't got all day. Girls in this truck, lads in the other. Hurry up now."

The lot of them scrambled to where they were supposed to go.

Jesse and Chris each threw an arm around Alex's shoulder.

"It's been good knowing you mate." Jesse ruffled his hair slightly.

"We'll miss you. Maybe." Chris snickered.

They each offered Alex a fist bump, before grabbing their bags and making their way to the truck.

"So this is it huh?"

"I think so, Tom."

"You think MI6 will ever let you come visit us normal peasants?"

"I doubt it."

"Yea well…" Tom looked away. "I'll miss you man."

"Same here. You were the only one out of the lot I told about this whole mess. Thanks, for everything."

They looked at one another for a moment, before stepping forward at the same time and embracing each other in a hard hug. Tom pounded his back twice, the way guys do, and stepped back.

"Hope you get lucky with Celine," Alex smiled.

"Dude, it ain't about luck." Tom winked and smiled one last time at his friend, before picking up his bag and walking over to the truck.

"You'll see him again," she appeared beside him suddenly.

"How do you know? You think its fate?"

"No, I think if we survive training and become agents, you'll track him down just to make sure he's okay."

He narrowed his eyes. "Did your mom teach you mind reading as well?"

She laughed and shook her head. "You want to go get our schedule now? It's already 8.30."

"Alright."

They made their way towards the admin block with their bags slung over their shoulders in a companionable silence.

"I can't believe you went to run the standard 7km this morning."

"So did you," Alex accused.

"Better safe than sorry." She retorted, as they reached their destination.

They opened the door and the man at the desk, without looking up, asked, "Cub and Fawn?"

"Yes sir."

"I have your schedule and assigned bunk here."

Alex stepped forward and took the papers from him with a quick thanks. They closed the door behind them ten seconds after they first opened it.

"Well that was faster than expected." She commented.

They stood side by side, studying their schedule together. Their days began at 6.45 in the morning, like it had been for the past few days. After that, they had lessons and training until 8 in the evening. There was a slight deviation in what Alex had been told. Their physical training ended at 3.30, with their lessons beginning at 4.15. Surprisingly, they got Sundays off.

But neither of them were glad at the early end to their day, or the day off. They knew whatever time they had would need to be spent studying or simply resting to restore their strength. The lessons lined up seemed more demanding than the physical training. Alex noted there was a difference in their classes; he had more languages, hers was more math and science. The irony.

"Acting and social etiquette?" He asked, his eyebrows rising.

"It's pretty important in the long run. And speaking of run, we only have ten minutes before physical training, better dump our stuff at the bunk fast."

They hastened, looking out for their assigned bunk.

"There," Alex said, pointing to one not far off.

They sped up and reached the small hut. The door creaked as he opened it and they stepped in. There were two beds at the opposite ends of the hut, the familiar thin mattress and skinny metal frame holding it up. The place where generally two other beds were placed was replaced with a wooden desk and two chairs. It was a simple design but somehow managed to turn out rather ugly. Standard stationary like pencils and plain paper littered the desk. Two lamps sat on the table as well.

"Home sweet home," he heard her murmur.

"Which bed do you want?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine with anything."

"We'll decide tonight then."

They dropped their bags and left the bunk. The option of sprinting to be on time for training was considered, but they decided not to. Whether or not they were late, they would probably have to go through the same torture.

That day passed excruciatingly slowly. Seconds seemed to crawl by, and after their bodies were battered and tired, they attended content heavy lessons while struggling to stay awake. Most of their instructors and teachers neither liked nor detested them, but taught them with a kind of unfeeling detachment.

The sergeant pushed them to their limits, not caring whether they threw up or fell. Their muscles continued to scream as they were abused through the hours spent under the sergeant, but the two had learnt to shut out the pain as they did during normal taekwondo lessons. Sessions always ended with them trembling, barely able to stand. But neither of them had ever let themselves cry out loud… or crawl for that matter.

Sarah excelled in every shooting course they attended; she demanded nothing less from herself. But Alex was fast catching up. There was no set ranking system like there was at Scorpia. But should there have been, they would have dominated the top two positions. He found himself finding the feel of the weapon increasingly innate, a fact that he didn't know whether to be afraid or glad about.

There were courses on other weapons as well, bombs and knives, household items. It gave both of them a slight backlash, studying weapons as a form of defense instead of how to kill someone straight away.

Alex found himself struggling with the basics of the two new languages he was learning; Mandarin and Russian. He'd always been a bright student, but the intense training was taking its toll on him. Chemistry, which he'd always excelled at in school, was marginally better, even though he was learning content far beyond what he'd been expected to know at his age. Sarah struggled as well with advanced physics and biology. She was due to start learning Korean also, once a teacher was chosen and background checked. Literature and arts were scheduled to begin soon for the both of them as well.

They ate rushed dinners at night and were back in their bunks by 8.30 to complete their course work. Sitting at opposite ends of the desk, their lamps angled above them, they studied until they slumped over their papers, too exhausted to lift their heads.

In the morning, they rose at 6.30, forcing themselves to be alert instantly, going for their standard run by 6.45, repeating the cycle daily.

On the night of the fifth day, both fell into their own beds at 8.35pm, grateful what they were looking forward to –Saturday night- had finally come, finally.

After a moment, Alex pried open his eyes. He listened for her breathing and found it had become heavy and steady. It was almost pitch black, but he could just make out the shapes of the sparse furniture in the room.

He peeled himself off his bed, stepping lightly over to her side.

She lay on her side, her hair spread out over the lumpy pillow they were provided. Her mouth was slightly ajar, all the tension in her body released as she found refuge from the horrors of reality in unconsciousness.

He kneeled down in front of her and just watched her for a moment. He didn't know what the hell he was doing and felt impossibly foolish. What was he? Some young school boy who couldn't help but trail after the pretty girl in class? He was better than this. At least, that was what he told himself.

Sighing softly, he bit his lip, wondering if the storm inside him would ever let up.

He lifted his hand and gently brushed a stray strand of hair that fell across her face aside, letting his fingers linger over her cheek for a moment.

"Damnit." He stood, jerkily, furious with himself, and marched back to his bed, forcing his mind to clear, hoping to find comfort in sleep.

Across the room, Sarah opened her eyes. She never slept first.

…~~~…~~~…

The next morning at 6.30am, it was still dark. But Alex lay in his bed, already wide awake.

"Alex?"

"Yea."

There was a soft mocking laughter from the other side of the room. "So you're awake too huh."

"Do you want to run?" He felt the energy building in him, waiting to be released as he normally exerted himself first thing in the morning.

"Yes, but I don't think we should. It becomes a habit after a while and we won't be able to carry on normally if it does. Imagine running at 6 in the morning on missions."

He nodded in the dark. It made sense, but he scowled. The SAS men didn't have to worry about habits or cover or false identity or the torment of learning a whole new – make that two whole new- language did they.

"Do you want to start on the work first? We can decide what to do later."

"Okay." Alex shook his head, bemused at himself. Jack would have near wet herself laughing if she knew he was studying at 6.30 on a Sunday. "The mess hall opens from 7.15 to 8.30 today right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Do you mind if we study there later? I want the hot drinks they provide."

Sarah smiled, she hadn't wanted to ask first in case he got the impression she was some weak girly girl. "Of course, no problem."

…~~~…~~~…

They sat at one end of the bench, their books, files and papers stacked beside them on the table and seat. Each had a cup of lukewarm drink that resembled diluted hot chocolate beside them.

Alex had been wondering why he'd gotten the chemistry module instead of physics, with the stereotypical mindset that males did better at that subject than females. But he glanced at her papers and found himself lost in equations that didn't quite seem they belonged on earth.

Sarah suppressed a smile as she noticed him peaking at her work. Because of her upbringing and training, she'd always seen things in a very logical, analytical point of view. Often, physics just felt like common sense to her. The way and reasoning to get answers she already knew. But then again, the work they'd given her was causing her mind to run in circles.

"Sarah."

She looked up. "Hmm?"

He turned a book upside down and slid it to her. "I don't get that sentence, it feels wrong, grammatically." He bit the inside of his cheek, irked with himself that he still couldn't grasp the language structure yet.

"That's the way Chinese is. Its sentence structure varies a lot from English. There are similarities though, for example here…"

The other SAS men who had begun filing in for breakfast watched the two of them from the corner of their eyes. There had been rumours going around about who the two kids actually were and what they'd done before, along with what they were actually doing there. No one had dared to ask their commanding officers though, that would have been a death wish. So they satisfied themselves with watching the pair, evaluating them, still undecided of what to make of them.

K unit was due to be deployed elsewhere soon, and were bombarded with questions involving their mysterious ex unit member. Panther was receiving a large amount of attention as well, due to the small fiasco in the mess hall that one time at dinner.

The two of them continued with their work, both sensing the entire mess hall watching them, but neither caring enough to move away.

By 8.10, the mess hall was cleared, except for the two of them, and the kitchen staff began clearing the trays away to prepare for lunch. Sarah waved to them and they returned the gesture, most of them sending hostile glances towards Alex. They were left alone most of the time, and the men left the lights in the area they were sitting in on, so they could continue their work.

With the conducive environment, they finished all their assignments by lunch time. They had lunch as they revised the lessons for the week.

By 2, the mess hall was cleared except for the two of them again.

Sarah sensed someone behind her and didn't start when a hand landed on her shoulder. "Hi Joe."

He chuckled, "I don't know how you always do that."

"You walk like an elephant," she looked up, smiling at him.

"You two done with your work now?" He waited for nods. "Good, then get going. Walk around or something. Sitting here won't do either of you no good."

They stacked up their materials in hand and left, to return to their bunk, after thanking Joe for letting them camp there.

Once in the bunk, they didn't know what to do again. It was the first time they had so much spare time on their hands and though both of them wouldn't admit it, they were terribly aware of the close proximity they were in.

They settled on conducting their own physical training, to get rid of the excess energy they had. But even after a 5km run, the standard 300 sit ups, 200 squats and 100 pushups, both of them continued to feel edgy and slightly tense. They went to the sparring area, intending to get rid of the tension between them that neither would acknowledge was there.

After the first fifteen minutes, Sarah paused and stepped back. "You know, we're both grownups, let's stop holding back shall we."

Alex nodded, agreeing.

They had both held back, not going full out. If anyone was watching, they would have described it as a… polite spar. Neither friendly nor amiable, but with neither side willing to show their full hand.

However after that comment, they went at each other like rabid dogs. Sarah didn't understand what the feeling building inside her was, but she lashed out with everything she had. Alex matched her, hit for block, block for hit. He grew more agitated with each attack and defense, wondering why on earth he was feeling so aggressive.

Finally, both delivered a powerful roundhouse kick at the same time. Their calves met each other in the air and both spun anticlockwise, returning to the typical feet shoulder width apart stance.

They stood there, watching each other, panting heavily.

"I want to shoot." He was surprised that he meant what he said; he missed the release one felt when the gun recoiled in your hand after being shot.

She nodded, and they both strode down to the shooting area.

There was already a unit there, practicing in their free time before their next lecture started. The SAS men didn't get a day off like they did.

They both grabbed a .22 LR Beretta each along with a handful of magazines from the storage area and stomped to the free targets. With rough, hostile motions, both loaded their guns and began shooting at the same time. For some reason it annoyed Alex. Who the hell did she think she was, beginning at the same time as him? He forced himself to focus, hitting only the bull's-eye at every shot. When he heard a quiet click, he pressed the unload button, reloaded, and began shooting again. Before her.

She grew increasingly agitated. This wasn't a game for goodness sake. What was he competing with her for? She reloaded her gun, faster than him, she noted, smirking, and began firing again.

The staccato sound of their shots became more frequent as they increased their firing speed.

They slammed down their empty magazine at the same time as they reloaded and began shooting again.

Finally, their last shots rang out together, as they ran out of bullets. Empty metal shells littered the vicinity they were in, but they were oblivious to their need to clear up as they grabbed the blank magazines and guns, dumping them violently in the storage area before stalking out together.

"What the freak was that." One of the men stated, when they'd stomped out of ear shot.

"Never seen any shit like that before man. They look like they gonna kill each other or something. Didn't even notice we were here."

There was a laugh from one of the guys. "You boys are pathetic. How long it been since you all got some?"

"Oooh."

"Gross shit. They just kids man."

"They look about 16, maybe 17 to me. Older than any of you when you first got some I bet."

"I don't know 'bout you. But that sexual tension right there? Turned me on man." He laughed. "Wish my babe was here. Boy what I'd do to her."

…~~~…~~~…

Sarah stood under the shower head, letting the freezing water cool her off.

What had she been thinking? Wait, she hadn't been thinking. Where did all that irritation at Alex come from? They'd been working together amiably. She liked that he didn't feel the need to fill silences with incessant chatter, in fact he seemed like he liked their silences as much as she did. He'd done nothing to offend her in anyway. So why was she so agitated by him?

She winced as she thought of the way they'd sparred just now. If she'd attacked him as forcefully as he did her, he was definitely feeling the effects now. She glanced down at herself. Bruises were beginning to form, littering her body, especially her arms, which had blocked most of the blows. But regardless of the pain, she had to admit it felt great to go all out against him.

In the male toilets, Alex stood under the shower head as well.

What had he been doing the last few hours? The questions that filled his mind were similar to those that filled hers.

He massaged his forearms. They were starting to feel sore already. He didn't bruise easily, but he wondered if she did. But he wouldn't regret going all out against her. He had to admit, she held her own. It was comforting to know they would be able to cover for each other in the future without him having to worry about her. A mash of voices outside interrupted his train of thought and he hurried to wash the last of the soap suds off himself.

…~~~…~~~…

Dinner was a pretty solemn affair. They kept their distance from each other, keeping up an amiable front. They sat opposite each other, at the same table they sat at during breakfast and lunch.

The beef wasn't bad, which meant it actually tasted like beef. Alex commented on it and that was the end of any conversation.

Then they returned to their bunk and retreated to their own, safe world while they sat on their beds and read the notes for the next day's lessons.

Alex found it increasingly hard to concentrate with Sarah just that few feet in front from him. She sat cross legged, her hair bunned up with the usual pencil. A few stray tendrils fell across her face, as if daring him to stride over and brush them aside for her. She wore a loose long sleeved shirt and her own shorts, but her legs were covered by thin, ratty blankets. She shifted slightly and the blanket slid to the side a little, revealing a thin strip of skin. There was a slightly uncomfortable tightness in Alex's pants, he wondered if it'd shrunk when he washed it.

Focus, he told himself. And to his credit, he did try,


End file.
